Vitamin A (Retinyl Palmitate): What It Is, What It Does, and Is It Safe?

Vitamin A shows up on a lot of skin care labels, but not always under that name. In many creams it appears as retinyl palmitate, a gentle, stored form of the vitamin. Here is what it is, how it differs from retinol, what safety reviewers found, and how to find it on a label.

What is retinyl palmitate?

Vitamin A is the name for a group of fat-soluble retinoids (compounds related to vitamin A), mainly retinol and retinyl esters. (NIH Office of Dietary Supplements, Vitamin A)

Retinyl palmitate is one of those retinyl esters. An ester is a compound made when an acid joins with an alcohol, and retinyl palmitate is retinol joined to palmitic acid (a fatty acid). (CIR, Re-review of Retinol and Retinyl Palmitate, 2012) Your body uses this same kind of storage form: most of its vitamin A is kept in the liver as retinyl esters. (NIH Office of Dietary Supplements, Vitamin A)

On a label it appears under its INCI name (the standard ingredient name used on cosmetic labels), "Retinyl Palmitate."

What does it do in a cream?

In cosmetics, retinyl palmitate is listed as a skin conditioning agent (an ingredient that keeps skin soft and in good condition). (CIR, 2012) It is widely used: in data the FDA gathered from manufacturers in 2012, it was in 2,059 cosmetic products. (CIR, 2012)

Research shows it reaches the skin. In a lab study that used fresh human skin and mouse skin, retinyl palmitate applied in a cream penetrated well into the epidermis (the outer layer of skin). It raised the skin's own stores of vitamin A and, unlike retinal (another vitamin A form tested), was not turned into retinoic acid, a stronger form of vitamin A. (Antille et al., Skin Pharmacology and Physiology, 2004)

Vitamin A in the skin also absorbs ultraviolet light. In a study, retinyl palmitate on volunteers' skin was as effective as an SPF 20 sunscreen at limiting sunburn redness after a measured dose of UVB light (the part of sunlight that causes sunburn). (Antille et al., Journal of Investigative Dermatology, 2003) That was a research finding. It does not make a cream with retinyl palmitate a sunscreen, so keep using sunscreen for sun protection.

Is retinyl palmitate safe?

The Cosmetic Ingredient Review, or CIR (the independent expert panel that reviews the safety of cosmetic ingredients in the United States), concluded in 1987 that retinyl palmitate and retinol are safe as cosmetic ingredients in the present practices of use and concentration, and confirmed that conclusion in 2005. (CIR, 2012)

In 2012 CIR staff started another re-review to look at newer data, including a completed National Toxicology Program (a US government research program) study on retinyl palmitate and sunlight. (CIR, 2012)

The human data in that review are reassuring. Women applied creams with 0.55% retinyl palmitate over a large area of skin for 21 days. Their blood levels of retinol and retinyl palmitate did not change, and the only side effect was brief, mild irritation where the cream was applied. (CIR, 2012)

In the US, the FDA does not approve cosmetic ingredients before they go on sale, except for color additives (other than coal tar hair dyes), and companies are legally responsible for the safety of their products and ingredients. (FDA, Cosmetic Ingredients)

How to spot it on a label

Look for "Retinyl Palmitate." Another name for it is vitamin A palmitate. (CIR, 2012) US cosmetic labels list ingredients in descending order of predominance, and ingredients at 1% or less may be listed in any order after the rest. (FDA, Cosmetics Labeling Guide)

Want to check a full label? Paste any label into our free Ingredient Label Decoder and see what each ingredient does in plain words.

See every ingredient in our cream on our Ingredients page, or read more about the nourishing ingredients in Corium 21.

Questions people ask

Retinyl palmitate vs retinol: what is the difference?

Retinol is vitamin A itself. Retinyl palmitate is retinol joined to palmitic acid, the storage form your body also uses. (CIR, 2012) In a skin study, both raised the skin's own vitamin A stores. (Antille et al., 2004)

Is retinyl palmitate gentler than retinol?

In the 21 day study CIR reviewed, the retinyl palmitate cream caused brief, mild irritation, while the retinol cream caused brief, moderate irritation. (CIR, 2012)

Is retinyl palmitate safe during pregnancy?

In the study above, women of child-bearing age used retinyl palmitate creams for 21 days with no change in their blood vitamin A levels. (CIR, 2012) Even so, if you are pregnant or planning to be, ask your doctor which vitamin A products are right for you.

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