Transcription
For me, what do you like about corn?
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It's cold. I don't know. They stopped. I did not know this song. I don't know this horror song. No. My name is Dr. Shock. Dr. Maxfield. Welcome back to our channel, Dr. Lee, where we talk about all things skincare and dermatology. Today, this is our series where we talk about viral skincare products and whether or not we think that they're worth it. Today, we're talking about the La Roche-Posay Cicaplast B5 Balm. A bomb on social media. We just got demonetized. Well, you won't be watching any ads on this video. Today, we're talking about this product that has got mega viral worldwide from La Roche-Posay. And in this video, they're making claims that it helps acne. So let's talk about all things related to this product. Here we go. Here we go.
Let's talk about the packaging first. Outside, it comes in a box. This is a small box that fits the tube nicely. It's fairly average, and it's a tube. It's a tube. There's nothing special about the packaging. Packaging gets zero out of ten. It functions. A functional pack, so five out of ten, I guess that'll be. It's a very average, very average packaging.
Let's talk about why did it even go viral in the first place? This one, this just won't go away. I don't know why. Like, I like it. Well, I guess whether I kind of like this product, but it keeps coming back. So first, it's like this amazing moisturizer. And then it's like with wound healing. And then is it, is it actually a spot treatment for acne? That seems to be a thing. And then I keep thinking we're done, and it just keeps going back. And then there was some controversy surrounding the formula because one, everyone loved it. It was viral. They used it to help their skin. And then they decided to change the formula in Europe, which everyone hates it when a company changes its formula for a product that they always loved. But they decided to add some, some type of barrier-repairing probiotics to them in Europe, not in the U.S. So it's the formula is unchanged in the U.S. right now. But they do have some new ingredients in Europe that people were pretty upset.
I'm going to call you out, La Roche, but say, at this moment, I might have your attention for this one second. Time. This might be the clunkiest rollout I've ever seen because, and maybe this was deliberate, but yeah, you stage, stage release there, but not here. Like, is it ever going to come global or U.S.? When I have no idea. But also, you change products too much. Like, you have a lot of good products I love, and you just change them slightly and tweak. Maybe it's deliberate, but I don't like it.
I think there's different regulations in Europe and the U.S. And because La Roche-Posay is a global brand, you get these changes that they need to make to one, maybe not another formula, or the distribution is different. It doesn't make it to the U.S. But the other thing to consider is that they also change the names of the formulas, which is also frustrating. It is too. One of my favorite products, La Roche-Posay Lipikar AP+, which they changed the name again of that product, right? So then when I'm recommending it to patients, they're like, it doesn't exist now. I'm like, oh, yes, it's just gone. Stop changing your product names. If you have to change the formulas, because you have to change the formulas, I mean, we can't say anything about that, but stop changing the names of the products when people learn them.
All right, so next up, let's talk about the ingredients because that's the real focus and the heart of La Roche-Posay. La Roche-Posay is a brand that is a derm-backed brand. You know, a lot of dermatologists recommend it. They actually have a skin center in France where they treat people with their thermal spring water. And they actually do a lot of philanthropic things, which I think are pretty cool. You know, it's actually really interesting. The Lipikar moisturizer is approved to treat radiation dermatitis for people that have cancers. And people that have cancers that are treated with radiation, they get a lot of damage to their skin barrier. And they actually did clinical studies, which is such a small group of people to do a clinical study on. It's not a big population that's going to necessarily benefit, but it's a very important population.
Let's talk about the ingredients here. So this has an active ingredient. What does that mean? An active ingredient is regulated as a drug in the United States, which means that most of your cosmetics are not regulated by the FDA. But if you see something on the top that says active ingredient, and you'll see this in your sunscreens, that means that it is regulated by the FDA. And this has an ingredient called dimethicone in it. And dimethicone is regulated as a skin protectant.
So dimethicone is interesting. Actually, maybe you can even educate me. I don't know why it's an active ingredient. Like, why not an inactive ingredient? It's not highly functional like a tretinoin or a sunscreen or something like that. It's often added to a product for an assisting role where dimethicone can be added to a petrolatum-based product to make it feel less greasy or thick. It also can work maybe to help the skin barrier a little bit. Some controversy in its role and inclusiveness and transepidermal water loss, like our travel have gone back and forth on that behind the scenes. But it's an emollient, helps kind of fill the space between skin cells, and it makes things more aesthetically pleasing. But it also is a silicone derivative product. Silicone, we know functionally is great for helping scars and wounds. I think that's one of the reasons why, you know, as a skin protectant.
There's colloidal oatmeal. Is also regulated in the same way. Is considered an active ingredient. And this gives it more like, just like you said, you know, it's helpful for scars, um, you know, anti-inflammatory, helps to repair the skin barrier. Dimethicone is very well studied to show that they have these types of results. Now, the next thing is that you have the vitamin B5, which is uh, panthenol. Panthenol is a very powerful antioxidant that is also very beneficial, calming, and soothing for the skin. Yeah, it's great for the skin barrier. So panthenol is a derivative of pantothenic acid that's just better absorbed and more effective in the skin itself. Now, panthenol is unique, and the mechanisms are actually really poorly understood with how this works, which is kind of frustrating for me. But one of the ways it works is through the COA synthetase enzyme, I believe, or the COA pathway in, in the involvement of the production of cholesterol and lipids for the skin barrier. So that's one of the ways it helps promote skin barrier. Also been studying wound healing. It's really actually a very, very good supporting ingredient. I love it every time I see it. I think it's interesting that they emphasize it so heavily in this line, but it is a great supporting ingredient.
And then you also have calming and soothing centella asiatica extract, madecassoside. And they've actually changed when you look at the European formula, they changed the madecassoside on the ingredient list to centella extract because it is a centella extract. And nobody knew what madecassoside was. So, so now you have centella in that ingredient list, but essentially the same thing. And I like centella. It's very good for redness, very good for inflammation, very calming and soothing, and so nice in the, in the formula and what it's trying to accomplish in a very deliberate way, which is really important to us.
Yeah, let's see. Another supporting ingredients that we're just going through the list here. You know, it has glycerin, a great humectant that also has some moisturizing properties. Shea butter, which is a really nice moisturizing ingredient, just not a lot of data on it, but it is nice in products. Can be helpful. It does have silica, which actually makes sense actually how it feels because silica helps absorb oil. And this is definitely a moisturizer that does not leave you kind of dewy and moist and wet and buttery. Certainly does not do that. That pretty much sums it up as far as I think the main recognizable names in this product. And then what it doesn't have, it doesn't have fragrance. It doesn't have essential oils. So, you know, very good for sensitive skin. Overall, that's pretty much this is the ingredient list.
But let's kind of dive in as far as the performance of the product and what you can expect to see when you use it. Because of the ingredients, because of the focus, because of the feel and the heaviness of the product, this is really meant to be a barrier-repairing type of product to me, right? So good as a moisturizer, good as barrier repair, good to calm and soothe inflammation, good for dry, cracked hands. To me, it's not necessarily good for acne, but it's also not bad for acne. There have been some studies that have shown that when you add dimethicone to your acne ingredients, so basically if you have like an ingredient like benzoyl peroxide and you add dimethicone to it, it can make it more tolerable, right? So it's, it's good in addition to an acne routine, but it's not meant to, like, in a lot of our videos, even the video that we featured here, they showed it as an acne treatment, but it's more of an ingredient to support your acne treatments. And I do think it's a good part of an acne routine, but it's not going to cure your acne without any other ingredients. Please. So this, if anything, would function to help a wound healing part of an acne bump and maybe a little bit of inflammation, but there's really not a strong, like, dedicated anti-inflammatory component. It's not like that strong. This actually answers and kind of comes alongside of one important question, like, should you moisturize when you have acne? And this moisturizer is kind of heavier, but it would actually function very well to offset irritation from either the acne active ingredients or just help the open acne bumps heal as they should be naturally progressing. Absolutely. So, and, and I really think it has a better place in people who have eczema, dry skin, lip, lip care, dermatitis, irritation, irritant, like contact dermatitis on your hands because of that protectant effect of the dimethicone and then the other ingredients that are calming and see the inflammation. I really find it a nice ingredient even for like stretch marks. I could see it playing a role because of the centella in it plus the dimethicone, which is helpful for scars. So, you know, I think it could be even a scar treatment to some extent. That's interesting. I would say, yeah, for probably non-mature scars or like early scarring, it might be helpful in that way. You know, I think that's kind of just a thought game, mind bubble, mind play. We're just thinking out loud here, but it might be helpful in that way as well.
Dr. Shock nailed it here. This is like fragrance-free, extremely gentle. Let's talk about now, like feel and fit, touch of the product. How does it blend into the skin? Do we like it? Do we hate it? It's thick. So a lot of the La Roche-Posay moisturizers leave behind a nice hydrating film, which I personally appreciate. I think it really lasts a long time and helps throughout the day. This one is like borderline sunscreen thick. Yes, it's like, it's like a mineral sunscreen thick. It's, it like grips your skin. So, definitely, you know, and because it's heavier, you know, it is going to be able to lock in those lipids better. It's going to be able to lock in that moisture better. It's going to be better at preventing transepidermal water loss, theoretically. But it's not like the best blending, uh, sun moisturizer that you've ever had in your life, I'll tell you that much.
Yeah, this is very much a functional moisturizer. Like, Dr. It serves its purpose well. I think for sensitive, irritated skin, sensitive, irritated, dry skin, especially here in the winter, perfect. I think this is amazing. And it does blend, like it does eventually blend out, but it's definitely not, it is not your lightweight moisturizer. You know what? I think you could use this to slug. Oh, so you think that this is heavy enough to be your last slug? To I think it is. I mean, it's not as effective because we, you know, we prefer petrolatum-based products to slug because it's the most effective occlusive moisturizer. But I think if someone wanted something a little bit more lightweight, a reasonable slugging step, I think, yeah, I think I think you agree.
Okay, so then the last piece of this is, let's compare it to another moisturizer from La Roche-Posay, which is their Lipikar AP+. And I'm going to go grab it. Yeah, this is one of my favorites of all time for the winter. Another one of our favorites, which is the Lipikar AP+ Balm Moisturizing Cream. No longer called that, even though this is not finished yet. They've decided to change the name and call it the Triple Moisturizing Cream. Is that what it's called now? I'm pretty sure, yeah. Um, but this again is a, I'm going to use on a different part of my arm just so that we can compare them side by side. And this one is actually grown on me more and more each winter season. Uh, at first, I was like, okay, maybe this is too heavy for me. I don't love it as much. But as my skin gets drier with age, I'm, and the size of the bottle and the price of the bottle, I am becoming more and more obsessed with this product. It locks in hydration all day, all night. Um, it doesn't feel too greasy after it rubs in. It blends better than this, um, the Cicaplast Balm. And it just overall is an amazing product.
Completely agree. Yeah, I mean, I'm obsessed with it. Obsessed, obsessed, obsessed. Like my skin gets beat up in the winter from surfing and all this crazy coldness. Um, so it, comparably though, I think it's lighter. It's lighter than the Cicaplast Balm. And because of that, I think it's more generally tolerable. I think more people would use it, especially actually in the setting of the face. You know, the Cicaplast Balm is small enough for like, face, the hands. But I think this Triple Moisturizing Cream, or whatever it is now, actually functions well for the same person. And I think they're different products. But if you're looking for more of a consistent moisturizer that you'd want to use for kind of all skin types or drier skin, I would go with the Triple Moisturizing Cream. But if you're looking for something that to kind of more not spot treat, but like very targeted treat your dermatitis, any, any like contact dermatitis, irritant dermatitis, eczema, even to kind of heal acne bumps afterwards as a skin protectant, I, I do like the Cicaplast Balm as a treatment for that. I think it fits its dedicated purpose well. So if you go to their website, nowhere on there does it say it treats acne, right? This is, this is a thick moisturizer, sensitive, dry, irritated skin, and it fits that perfectly. So I'm all on board with that. I think as far as like how it's grown on social media, it doesn't quite fit where it's taken off to. But I think overall the product is very good. As far as grades, it's like a solid, like omnivorous mammal. It's, it's very good and functional with a lot of good roles.
So the last thing we have to talk about is the price. And this falls in at $15, which is very reasonable for what it performs, the ingredients, the thoughtfulness. So overall, we have a pretty good grade, even product. I would actually say that this is completely worth its virality. I think that, you know, it's kind of like a game of telephone. It's a great product for certain things, like your, like your irritation of the skin. And then it started to, like, the problem is that people don't know why other people are using it. And then they use it for everything. And then the spillover, like it started out as probably the right thing. And then it spilled over into being used for things that probably isn't as helpful for, like treating active acne. That being said, I think it's a great product to have, especially for somebody who suffers from dry, irritated skin. So overall, I think it deserves its virality. Buy it with purpose, but definitely Dr. Lee approved. Definitely let us know what's, which products you want us to review next. We're going to be making this a larger series where we review products one by one. Thank you all so much for tuning in. Please like, comment, and subscribe. We'll see you in the next video. We'll see you next time.
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