Can retinol, vitamin A or other compounds really keep your skin healthy and ‘youthful’?

‘There is very little you actually need to purchase from Big Skincare or Big Aesthetics to keep your skin looking healthy and youthful as you age,’ says Dr Natalia Spierings. Composite: Getty Images

Antiviral reader Patrick wrote in to us because of the “constant claims” he sees on social media “that retinol (vitamin A) and related compounds help to keep skin youthful”.

To examine whether retinol really is the “road to ultimate youthful skin”, as one TikTok video claims, we turned to Dr Natalia Spierings, a consultant dermatologist and skin cancer surgeon in London with a reputation for her evidence-based, no-nonsense approach to skincare.