A line of products, Actifade actually has 3 different formulas. They have 3 different formulas that are all ultimately made to eliminate age spots, liver spots, discolorations, darkened scars, and otherwise things that stand out from the skin in coloration. They show pictures of hands without liver or age spots after using Actifade, and frankly there are many ways to achieve this effect.
So how does Actifade work?
Actifade uses one active ingredient and only one: hydroquinone.
What is Hydroquinone?
Hydroquinone is an active bleaching ingredient. It bleaches out the skin, and when applied to areas that are darker than the rest, it will put the color closer to what it should be in comparison to the rest of the skin. Hydroquinone has been used in many general lightening creams including those that are used for the whole face in certain Asian countries. So therefore, if you have dark liver spots, it could lighten them out.
What are the dangers of hydroquinone?
Unfortunately, nothing is ever perfect, and there are certain problems with this formulation. When you think about bleaching, you think about burning, about altering the cells of whatever is being bleached, sometimes eating through clothes, etc. Bleach definitely does damage skin cells, therefore breaking them down and accelerating the aging process in terms of wrinkles, sag, sometimes age spots, etc. And unfortunately, at best it causes redness, irritation, and otherwise side effects in general. And it obviously will not do anything good for lines, wrinkles, crow’s feet, and it may also further bleach the skin, bleaching it too far and otherwise causing more problems than good, creating little light spots rather than dark spots.
Does Actifade have anything better?
Unfortunately, hydroquinone is the only active ingredient found in Actifade products. This means that you will only see bleaching effects that often go too far, especially with the average user. It is open to mistakes. This being said, Actifade products don’t really treat age spots, produce more collagen and elastin, or otherwise really alleviate the problem. The only thing that Actifade products do is ultimately further damage the skin. And so in order to achieve greater age fighting effects, Actifade is not something you really want to consider ultimately speaking.