EGF: What if we could talk to the skin?
What if we could just…command our cells?
First, I’d tell my skin to get rid of the acne scars, even the skin tone, make the pores smaller, oh, and secrete just the right amount of oil so I look dewy with no blackheads.
Uhhh also please fix that breakout on the chin I was just picking at, sorry
Love, 🧠
Growth factors allow us to talk directly with skin cells.
Epidermal Growth Factors, or EGF, are diverse groups of polypeptides that modify and regulate the proliferation, growth, survival, migration, and differentiation of skin cells [1].
Like instructions on a piece of paper, EGF is sent to the receiver cells, activating them to do specific functions under certain conditions.
1 - What do Epidermal Growth Factors do for me?
There are 5 types of cells regulated by growth factors that are relevant to the skin on your face and body:
fibroblasts [2], keratinocytes [3], melanocytes [4], Langerhans cells [5], and dendritic cells [6]
Each type of these cells has a specific function and responds to a certain type of growth factor (GF):
Fibroblasts are factory workers producing bricks of collagen, used for maintaining the structural foundation and building strength of the skin, making it behave bouncy and youthful
Keratinocytes are construction workers using collagen bricks to fix the barrier, facilitating the renewal and repair of our skin naturally
Melanocytes are painters giving colour to the barrier, so that the skin is protected against UV radiation by working with keratinocytes,
Langerhan cells are security guards checking for danger signals stationed at the outermost layer of the skin, always ready to initiate the full immune system
Dendritic cells are detectives patrolling the barrier at the middle layer of the skin, always ready to present exactly the right antigen that’ll take down a specific pathogen
As for their results, studies have found that EGF can better heal and renew the skin [7].
How significant? When they applied just 5 μg of EGF over a square of skin 1 cm by 1 cm, the healing time was found to decrease by 25-50%.
You’ll be healing twice as fast.
2 - Do Epidermal Growth Factors really work?
Yes, studies have proved that EGF results in the body synthesizing more hyaluronic acid and collagen [8].
But here’s the catch:
The sample size was small. A research backing EGF (serum applied for 3 months) in improving pigmentation, skin texture, pore size, and wrinkles only included ~30 people.
Also, there weren’t control groups to make comparisons with.
EGF breaks down fast. As a protein, it’s inherently unstable when not in the body, and when mixed with other skincare formulations, it might denature and inactive even faster [9].
Better than egg whites left out in the open - EGF is estimated to be stable for only 3 months [10].
The skin just can’t let EGF in [11]. It’s a 6,400 Da protein trying to fit through spaces in between the epidermis made for molecules <500 Da [12] [13].
This might not be a problem when applied to open wounds, so some are trying to combine EGF with microneedling to bypass the epidermis barrier.
I believe that science is always getting there - so keep an eye out for stable forms of EGF that have smaller molecular sizes or lighter molecular weights.
3 - The best Epidermal Growth Factors skincare: EGF serum, EGF cream, EGF eye cream, EGF ampoule
Can’t say I know because I haven’t tried every EGF product out there, each for at least 3 months.
Even if it worked for me, like it did for the 30 women in the earlier study [8], our skin is different.
So here’s a comprehensive comparison of EGF, or general GF, skincare products (available in popular mass retailers) to help you decide for yourself. Remember the nuances of GF in terms of stability and absorption:
The gray dots are brands of growth factor skincare that I did not find the specific concentration % for. There’s also another subtlety: brands with patented growth factor peptides may not compare directly with the concentration of other GF peptides.
