Biochemical pharmacologyMar 18, 2026

Skin aging treatments applied on the surface and throughout the body: what we know, challenges, and future directions

Longevity & Aging Weekly Brief ↗PubMed ↗DOI ↗

Updated Mar 19, 2026

Abstract

Skin aging interventions often show benefits, but clinical effectiveness is limited by various factors.

Intrinsic biological factors and extrinsic environmental influences, particularly ultraviolet radiation, contribute to skin aging.
Current interventions evaluated include antioxidants, hormonal therapies, retinoids, hydrators like hyaluronic acid, collagen peptides, and new senescence-targeting agents.
Clinical effectiveness of many interventions is often constrained by issues such as poor absorption, chemical instability, and irritation.
The literature on skin aging interventions frequently involves small sample sizes, short durations, and subjective outcome measures.
Retinoids are the most consistently supported intervention, but issues with tolerability remain.
There is a notable gap between commercial claims and robust clinical evidence regarding skin aging treatments.

Simplified

Skin aging is a complex, multifactorial process driven by intrinsic biological factors and extrinsic environmental influences, with ultraviolet radiation playing a central role in accelerating structural and functional skin deterioration. A wide range of topical and systemic interventions have been proposed to prevent or reverse visible signs of skin aging. This review provides a critical evaluation of current skin aging interventions, including antioxidants, hormonal therapies, retinoids, hydrators such as hyaluronic acid, collagen peptides, and emerging senescence-targeting agents. Distinct from prior reviews, this work integrates both a pharmaceutical perspective, focusing on physicochemical properties, formulation stability, and dermal or oral bioavailability of active ingredients, and a methodological assessment of clinical evidence. While several skin aging interventions have been described to show benefits, their clinical effectiveness is often constrained by poor absorption, chemical instability, irritation, or limited mechanistic validation. The existing literature is characterized by small sample sizes, short study durations, subjective outcome measures, lack of appropriate controls, and frequent industry sponsorship, all of which limit the reliability and generalizability of reported outcomes. Retinoids remain the most consistently supported intervention, though tolerability issues persist, whereas evidence for antioxidants, hormonal therapies, hydrators and collagen peptides remains inconclusive. Overall, this review highlights a substantial gap between commercial claims and robust clinical evidence, underscoring the need for large-scale, well-controlled, independent trials with standardized, objective endpoints to establish safe, effective, and evidence-based strategies for healthy skin aging.

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Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

PubMed

Skin aging treatments applied on the surface and throughout the body: what we know, challenges, and future directions

Abstract

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Competing interests

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