Evidence-Based Pharmacology DHS · 01

Skin system.

Dermal Health Science began as a collaboration between a patient care and education specialist, a pharmacologist and a pharmaceutical chemist — three disciplines united by one ambition: continuously healthy skin, at every age and through every skin condition.

Meet the disciplines How we formulate
  • 01Peer-reviewedactive selection
  • 02Small-batchproduction
  • 03Practitionerpartnerships
DHS / ORIGIN STUDYTRIAD · 001
DermExcel medical-grade skincare formulations
SYSTEM CLASSClean + Clinical
ACTIVESTABLEGUIDED
DermExcel medical-grade skincare

FORMULATED FORskin that needs more than cosmetic promises.

DHSMEDICAL-GRADE AESTHETIC DERMATOLOGY
SAFE

Most skincare is formulated to be tolerable

RESULTS

We formulate to be effective

FORMULATION

Then engineer the tolerance back in.

A comfortable product is easy to make: reduce the active, raise the pH, add a fragrance that reads as “clean”.

A product that changes skin has to survive contact with biology — and then be liveable enough that someone stays on it for three months.

Nearly everything below solves the second problem, so we never have to compromise on the first.

Conviction zero

Delivered active

Drag to compare

Enough to name on a label Fixed reference0.10%

The dose below is 100× this.

Dosed the way it was studied Dose10%

At 10.0% — the concentration Azelaic acid, Niacinamide and Tetrahexyldecyl ascorbate are each used at in our serums.

Concentrations are as declared for each DermExcel™ formulation. Higher concentration is not automatically better for every skin; it is better only when the molecule, the vehicle, the pH and the person are matched. That matching is what the rest of this page is about.

Actives are the most expensive line on a formulation sheet.

That single commercial fact explains a great deal of the skincare aisle. A famous molecule can appear on an ingredient list at a fraction of a percent, be photographed beautifully, and be marketed as the hero of the formula. Nothing about that is illegal. It is simply not a therapeutic dose. We do the opposite, and we print the number. Data published in the peer-reviewed medical literature supports our active ingredients — and the concentrations and dosing protocols in which we use them. If the literature studied it at ten percent, ten percent is what goes in the bottle.

What that looks like across the range.

Every figure below is a stated active concentration in a DermExcel™ formulation. Tap any one to move the dial to it.

What we believe

Six convictions we will not formulate around.

These are not values in the poster sense. Each one costs us something — money, simplicity, or the option of an easier product. That is how we know they are real.

A percentage on a label describes how much of a molecule is present. It says nothing about how much of it is available. For an acid, availability is decided by pH: only the free, non-ionized fraction is lipophilic enough to cross the stratum corneum and enter a sebum-filled follicle. Raise the pH two points and the same three percent behaves like a fraction of a percent.

So we specify pH the way a pharmacist would, per product and per purpose — 3.0 where we need maximum penetration, 5.5 where we need daily tolerability — and we build the vehicle to match. Solvent systems that stop 30% salicylic acid from crystallizing out of solution. Glycol matrices that lower interfacial tension so a lipophilic acid partitions into oil rather than sitting on water. Film-formers that keep a body treatment on the skin instead of letting it run off.

None of this is visible in a photograph. All of it is the difference between a claim and a dose.

A range this potent has an obvious failure mode: someone uses three actives on the first night, strips their barrier, and quits in week two convinced that strong skincare “doesn't work for them”. It worked. The protocol didn't.

So barrier support is not a product line for us; it is a structural component of the system. Enriched supplies ceramides, cholesterol, and fatty acids in the lamellar arrangement the stratum corneum actually uses. DermNourish is a hydrator built to be applied on damp skin the night a retinoid stings. Neither is an upsell. They are the reason we can dose the correctives the way we do.

And we titrate: every third night before every night, one active before two, tolerance proven before escalation. Consistency beats intensity. A protocol you abandon has zero efficacy, no matter what is in the bottle.

We do not build hero SKUs and hope they combine. Every product is designed with an explicit role in a protocol: what it is for, what it goes with, what it must never be layered under, and what happens when it is working.

That is why acne is treated as four simultaneous problems rather than one — the plug (follicular hyperkeratinization), the fuel (sebum dysregulation), the amplifier (microbial pressure), and the fire (inflammatory signaling). A single serum that addresses one of the four will disappoint. Inflacin addresses all four in one bottle because that is the shape of the problem.

Cleansing follows the same logic. In our system, a cleanser is the first therapeutic step of the day, applied to dry skin and left in contact for minutes — not a rinse that removes the day before the real products arrive.

Two products can list the same active and behave nothing alike. Almost every molecule exists in several forms, and they are not interchangeable—the cheaper one usually has a delivery or stability problem, which is precisely why it is cheaper. We have consistently chosen the other one.

To be plain about it: a high price proves nothing on its own. A great deal of expensive skincare is expensive for reasons that never reach your skin — the packaging, the counter it sits on, the name on the bottle. What we spend on is the version of the molecule that survives formulation and arrives intact. That cost shows up in the ingredient list, not on the box.

Tetrahexyldecyl ascorbate instead of L-ascorbic acid — lipid-soluble, stable, and able to associate with a lipid-rich stratum corneum rather than oxidizing into a brown bottle. Hydroxypinacolone retinoate instead of retinol — a retinoic acid ester that binds retinoid receptors directly rather than requiring conversion steps that cost you both potency and comfort. Medilan™, an ultra-pure pharmacopoeial lanolin, because generic lanolin is a well-known contact allergen and eczema-grade skin cannot afford one. Even our hyaluronic acid is specified by molecular weight: high-weight HA does not penetrate, and very low-weight HA can be pro-inflammatory, so we use the fraction that does neither.

A dark mark is not one thing. It is the visible end of a production line: a signal arrives, an enzyme is switched on, pigment is manufactured, and pigment is handed to a neighboring cell. You can intervene at four different points on that line, and the formulations that work intervene at more than one.

So Litaderm is built as a four-step blockade rather than a brightening serum: bakuchiol at the signaling step, azelaic acid and arbutin at the enzyme step, niacinamide at the hand-off to keratinocytes, and azelaic acid again on the hyperactive melanocytes themselves. Four molecules, four positions on one pathway.

The same discipline runs through the range — redness treated at the inflammatory mediator, scale treated at the desmosome, congestion treated at the follicular plug. We are not interested in what a symptom looks like. We are interested in where it is made.

“What's your skin type?” is the wrong question because the answer changes with the season, the product you used last week, and how honest you feel. We ask instead what is measurably in the way.

The Dermal Diagnosis™ scores four barriers to skin health—aging, inflammation, dehydration, and dyspigmentation—resolves them into a phenotype code, and returns a protocol built from that code rather than a category preference. Where two inflammatory conditions compete, it asks you which to treat first, because sequencing matters more than coverage.

It is free, it takes minutes, and it is why we are comfortable selling a 30% salicylic acid treatment online. Potency this deliberate should never be self-prescribed from a photograph.

Instrument · free-acid availability

Why we argue about decimals.

Same molecule. Same percentage on the label. Move the pH and you change how much of it can actually get in. Drag the dial — the bars are calculated live.

3.0 pH of the formulation
2.03.04.05.06.07.0

Free-acid fraction calculated from the Henderson–Hasselbalch relationship using published pKa values (salicylic 2.97 · mandelic 3.41 · glycolic 3.83 · lactic 3.86 · azelaic 4.55 and 5.50). It describes the proportion of the acid present in its non-ionised, lipid-permeable form — the form able to cross the stratum corneum. Azelaic acid is dicarboxylic, so both dissociation steps are modelled; the other four are monoprotic. It is a model of the principle, not a measurement of any finished product, and real formulations are also shaped by vehicle, solubility and contact time.

Our formulations, and the pH each one is held at.

Tap one to move the dial. Notice that we do not use a single pH — we use the pH each job requires.

At pH 3.0 salicylic acid sits close to half in its free, non-ionised form. At pH 5.0 it is near one percent. That is the same ingredient at the same declared concentration, delivering a completely different dose to the follicle. Which is why, for a peel, pH 3.0 is not a preference — it is the product.

How we look at a face

Four barriers stand between
skin and health.

Not skin types. Barriers — to skin health. Every Dermal Diagnosis™ resolves to some combination of these four, and the protocol follows from the combination, not from a preference.

Build a phenotype code

A demonstration of the architecture, not a diagnosis. The live assessment scores each axis from your answers, grades severity, and resolves conflicts between competing inflammatory conditions. Under twenty the architecture itself changes: no ageing letter, no pigment axis, and severity graded on a ladder rather than composed from letters. Tweens and teens resolve to the same profile; the pack sizes differ.

Your phenotype

Objectives
Actives
Get you personal profile More info on AOPB
The working set

Every active has a target.
Not a story.

The molecules we formulate with, the biology each one interrupts, and — where it matters — why we chose that particular form of it. Select any element.

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—

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Target

Mechanism

Why this form

Found in

Mechanisms described are those reported for the ingredient in the cosmetic-science and dermatology literature. They describe how a molecule is understood to behave, not a promised clinical outcome for any individual. DermExcel™ products are cosmetic formulations and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent disease.

What to expect

Active ingredients may sting.

The first few weeks — what is supposed to happen, what may happer, and what should not happen.

Days 1–3

A tingle and some tightness

Mild stinging when applying an acid system is expected. It is the free acid making contact, not damage.

Days 3–5

Retinisation peaks

Diffuse redness and flaking around the nose and mouth as turnover outruns barrier repair. This is the hardest week.

Weeks 1–2

Purging, if it happens

Existing microcomedones surface together in your usual breakout areas and clear faster than normal lesions.

Weeks 4–6

Level ground

Purging resolves, tolerance is established, and frequency can climb. This is where the protocol starts to pay off.

Expected — keep going

  • Mild tingling or transient warmth on application
  • Light flaking in the first two weeks of a retinoid
  • Small whiteheads surfacing where you normally break out
  • A slight film from a gel matrix — that is the residence time working

Not expected — stop and ask us

  • Redness or stinging still present after two weeks
  • Swelling, weeping, or hives
  • Skin that looks tight and glassy and stings under a bland moisturiser
  • Lesions in areas you have never broken out in before

“If you feel dry or tingly in the first three days, that is normal — it means the pH is working. If you are still red and stinging after two weeks, call us so we can adjust your regimen.”

Guidance, not medical advice. Discontinue use and seek professional advice if a reaction persists or worsens. If you are pregnant, breastfeeding, under treatment for a skin condition, or using prescription topicals, speak to your practitioner before starting an actives-led protocol.

Restraint

Some of what we believe
is best said as a refusal.

We won't pretend one product suits everyone.

A barrier-repair ointment built for eczema is the wrong answer for congested, oil-prone skin. Matching matters more than marketing, so we diagnose first.

We won't name an ingredient we haven't dosed.

If a molecule appears on our label, it is there at a working concentration, and in most cases, that number is printed alongside it.

We won't sell you eleven steps.

Most protocols we write are three to four products, morning and evening. Complexity is where adherence goes to die, and adherence is the whole game.

We won't buffer an acid past the point of usefulness.

Raising pH is the easiest way to make a formulation comfortable and the fastest way to make it inert. We solve tolerance with vehicle design and titration instead.
The model

A range this potent
should keep a clinician
in the room.

Dermal Health Science supplies plastic and reconstructive surgeons, dermatologists and aesthetic medical practitioners. When you buy directly from us, you are asked to register and choose a practice to be affiliated with — and a percentage of everything you spend goes to that practice.

It is not a loyalty scheme. It is how the clinical relationship survives the convenience of buying online: the practitioner who knows your skin stays materially connected to your care, and we stay accountable to a profession rather than only to a checkout.

Find a practice For practitioners
1

Assess

The free Dermal Diagnosis™ scores four barriers and returns a phenotype code.

2

Affiliate

You register and select the medical practice you want connected to your care.

3

Protocol

A regimen built from the code — morning, evening, titration steps and stop-signals

4

Share

A percentage of every purchase returns to your chosen practice.

5

Re-assess

Skin changes. The assessment is repeatable, and the protocol moves with it.

Where it is made

Pharmaceutical standards,
because that is the only way
these numbers are safe.

Purity, potency and stability are not adjectives here. They are the three things a compounding facility is audited on, and they are the reason we can dose the way we do.

3

Founding disciplines

Patient care and education, pharmacology, pharmaceutical chemistry

22

Formulations

Across cleansing, correction, barrier, photoprotection, and devices.

30

Active ingredients

Selected based on published evidence for efficacy, safety, and biocompatibility.

SAPC

Standard

Manufactured in a facility regulated by the South African Pharmacy Council under the Pharmacy Act, 1974

Products are produced in small batches to protect potency and stability. Active ingredients are selected on efficacy, safety and biocompatibility reported in peer-reviewed medical literature, including the concentrations and dosing protocols in which they are used.

Where science becomes your daily skin system

Start where the evidence starts.

Find the DermExcel or Dermaplan protocol built for your skin — or begin the Dermal Diagnosis and let the science build it for you.

Begin your diagnosis Shop the system