Of the many forms of this vitamin, some of the more commonly used are ascorbic acid, ascorbyl phosphate (typically as the magnesium and sodium salts), and other ascorbate derivatives (e. g., ascorbyl palmitate, ascorbyl glucoside).
Vitamin C is well known as an antioxidant and has been utilized as a skin lightener (e. g., via tyrosinase inhibition and/or its antioxidant effect). It also has been reported to have anti-inflammatory properties since it reduces the erythema associated with post-operative laser resurfacing (32). In addition, ascorbic acid also serves as an essential co-factor for the enzymes lysyl hydroxylase and prolyl hydroxylase, both of which are required for posttranslational processing in collagen (Types I and III) biosynthesis (33-36). Thus, by stimulating these biosynthetic steps, ascorbic acid will increase the production of collagen which will lead to wrinkle reduction as discussed above.
While the ascorbic acid derivatives may possess some properties of the free acid (e. g., antioxidant), hydrolysis of the derivatives would be required for the increased collagen production effect since the acid is the active co-factor. Demonstration of the hydrolysis of all these derivatives in skin has not been well documented.