Is medical-grade skin care worth the extra cost?

Medical-grade is the label on the bottle and the price on the tag, and those are the two smallest signs to read before you decide. Yahoo News has a plain answer on what each one tells you.

What the label does and does not tell you

Yahoo News puts it this way: "In the end, whether something is medical-grade or not doesn't determine how well the product works, nor do the claims a brand makes about what their product can do." The label, in other words, is not a measure of results. Neither are the promises printed beside it.

What the label costs

The same piece is just as direct about price: "And not surprisingly, they also often come at a higher price." So the higher price is the part the source says often shows up, and the better result is the part the label does not promise.

How to weigh the extra cost

Start from the claim, not the category. When a product says what it will do, ask what supports that statement beyond the words "medical-grade" on the front. If the answer is only the label, the extra cost has bought a name. The Cleveland Clinic newsroom collects general advice in Dermatologist-Approved Tips for Healthier Skin, and the AAD has a piece on skin care secrets. Both are useful for comparing what a product promises against general advice.

Weighing price against claims

Keep a note of what you paid and what the product claimed, then look at your skin after a few weeks of steady use. Readers in St. Johns, Florida, who are weighing a pricier product can ask the person recommending it what specifically it does that a cheaper one does not.