Cracking the Chirality Code: An Overview of its Role in Skin Care

Chirality is a complex concept, particularly when deciphering its value in the aesthetics profession; however, because of its effect on skin at a cellular level, it is worthwhile for skin care professionals to equip themselves with this knowledge – the fundamentals of chirality – in order to effectively use it in the spa. 

WHAT IS CHIRALITY? 

Chirality happens routinely in nature, affecting organic materials like the vitamins, amino acids, and sugars found in skin care products.3,4 Chirality refers to natural asymmetry, specifying that the material cannot be flipped to create its own mirror image.1  

This like the difference between the left and right hand – they look similar but are actually mirror images of each other. Like hands, a chiral material will interact with the world differently than its chirally opposite counterpart.  

Some molecules designed to be used in the treatment room have this same kind of “handedness,” and they can exist in two mirror-image forms, called enantiomers. This asymmetry can be classified into L-enantiomers, the lefthanded structure, and D-enantiomers, the right.2 Additionally, the chirality of some structures is labeled as S and R, with S (sinister) denoting the left and R (rectus) denoting the right.3 Skin itself is considered chiral, which means that chiral ingredients work better at achieving results in skin versus those that are not.4,5 

References 

1. Deigin, Vladislav, Natalia Linkova, Julia Vinogradova, Dmitrii Vinogradov, Victoria Polyakova, Dmitrii Medvedev, Alexander Krasichkov, and Olga Volpina. 2024. “The First Reciprocal Activities of Chiral Peptide Pharmaceuticals: Thymogen and Thymodepressin, as Examples.” National Center for Biotechnology Information. Accessed October 22, 2024. https://www.theskincareclinic.com.au/chirality-in-skin-care/#:~:text=Chiral%20correction%20is%20a%20process,function%20at%20a%20cellular%20level.  

1. U.S. National Library of Medicine. “Chirality and Its Importance in the Biological Activity of Molecules.” National Center for Biotechnology Information. Accessed October 22, 2024. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11084461/. 

1. LibreTexts. “Absolute Configuration: R-S Sequence Rules.” LibreTexts Chemistry. Last modified May 24, 2017. https://chem.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Organic_Chemistry/Supplemental_Modules_(Organic_Chemistry)/Chirality/Absolute_Configuration_R-S_Sequence_Rules. 

1. Zhang, Haokang, and Leo Q. Wan. 2022. “Cell Chirality as A Novel Measure for Cytotoxicity.” National Center for Biotechnology Information. Accessed November 12, 2024. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9008805/ 

1. Touitou, Elka, Biana Godin, Thirumala Kommuru, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, and Texas A&M University School of Pharmacy. Chirality in drug design and development. Marcel Dekker, Inc., 2004. https://books.google.ca/books?hl=en&lr=&id=PgMLTe34eJ8C&oi=fnd&pg=PA67&dq=chiral+molecules+skin&ots=xf8EQAHsGh&sig=N0oTGmduAKALf3jpzr76rkvjAOo#v=onepage&q=chiral%20molecules%20skin&f=false. 

1. Ashenhurst, J. “D and L Sugars.” Master Organic Chemistry. Last modified May 24, 2017. https://www.masterorganicchemistry.com/2017/05/24/d-and-l-sugars/.