Allantoin

Skincare Glossary: Allantoin

Modern chemists got a hint about the benefits of Allantoin in skin care from ancient uses of urine to relieve skin irritation that dates as far back as the ancient Egyptians and Chinese.

The Allantoin that you purchase in creams today is usually manufactured in huge quantities in a cosmetic or pharmaceutical plant but some natural products are available. Another natural source of Allantoin is the Comfrey plant that was originally found in Russia.

The most significant use of Allantoin is to reduce the dryness of a person’s skin. Age, climate, pollution, and excessive exposure to the sun can produce dry skin. An additional benefit from Allantoin is the reduction of scar tissue. Allantoin can prevent inflammation and irritation of the skin. Allantoin can also treat diaper rash and moderate radiation burns caused by cancer treatments that use radiation.

Allantoin is often considered to be a moisturiser for the skin but this compound acts differently in chemical and physical terms than most moisturisers.

Allantoin helps your body remove the dead cells in the upper layers of the skin. This makes the skin softer and smoother. Allantoin also helps remove the keratin in the upper layers of your skin that can build up over time and make your skin dry and stiff.

Allantoin does not add water to your skin directly. The compound removes the barriers like dead skin and keratin that prevent the lower layers of your skin from absorbing moisture like they normally would. Allantoin does allow your skin to retain more moisture for a longer period of time.

The production of natural moisture that Allantoin produces prevents your skin from being itchy or flaky due to the excess of dead skin cells that have not been removed.

Allantoin can facilitate the healing of scar tissue by acting with and against the chemicals that your body naturally makes in reaction to injury. Allantoin reacts with inflammatory agents that the body produces and binds them into a chemically inert state. The inflammatory agent cannot make any scar tissue turn red and puffy like they usually do. The Allantoin and inflammatory agent combination is eliminated from the body as waste.

Allantoin can be purchased as a liquid or a cream.

Most manufacturers and physicians do not recommend the use of Allantoin on the face. Any contact with the eyes, open wounds, an area that has been recently shaved, the mouth, the inside of the nose, the ears, and the genital areas should be avoided.

The skin in the areas that you should not use Allantoin on is different from the skin on most of your body. Your eyes, nose, face, genitals, and any open sore can absorb more Allantoin than the rest of your skin. Removal of the absorbing cells can be damaging to your body.

Allantoin should never be swallowed.

The number of times you should use Allantoin depends on the severity of your dry skin and the directions on the product you buy. When in doubt ask your pharmacist or a cosmetologist.

If you have dry itchy hands then you need to use Allantoin as a cream after you wash your hands. The best results are shown to be produced if you use Allantoin each and every time you wash your hands.

Similarly, any skin dryness that is localised to a specific area should be treated several times a day but not more than the directions specify.

Do not feel strange or squeamish about using something that comes from the urine of animals for skin care. The Allantoin you get today was made in a factory under strict guidelines.

The ancient people that discovered the benefits of Allantoin used what the natural world provided. More likely than not, some woman that was milking a cow got peed on and found out that her hands were softer.