Urea could be featured in the ingredients list of your moisturizer if you lately paid great attention to the label. Due to its moisturizing and exfoliating qualities, urea is a common ingredient in cosmetics and skincare products.
Urea is naturally present on your skin and is expelled in urine, but it is also manufactured synthetically in laboratories for use in skin care products. Let’s discuss the function of urea in skin care products and consider any potential negative effects.
How does urea help the skin?
Your skin’s epidermis, often known as the top layer of skin, has five sublayers.
The stratum corneum, the skin’s outermost sublayer, stops water loss through your skin and prevents foreign substances from entering your body.
Natural moistening factors, or NMFs for short, are a class of chemicals that play a significant role in the stratum corneum’s ability to retain water.
Numerous skin care products contain urea to treat medical disorders linked to dry or itchy skin as well as overall skin dryness. Additionally, urea can help exfoliate accumulated dead skin cells and perhaps fight fungus infections.
Moisturizes your skin
Numerous studies have revealed that urea-containing creams and lotions can effectively cure dry skin.
The humectant urea. This indicates that it maintains the moisture of your skin by absorbing water from the air and the deeper layers of your skin.
Exfoliates
The keratolytic agent is urea. This indicates that it degrades the keratin protein in your skin’s outer layer. By doing this, you can get rid of flaky or scaling skin and lessen the accumulation of dead skin.
The biggest exfoliating effects are found in creams with more than 10% urea (Trusted Source).
Increases the effectiveness of some medication
Some drugs may be easier to take via your skin if you use urea. These drugs include antifungal creams and corticosteroids.
Onychomycosis is a fungal infection of the toenail, and urea improves the effectiveness of oral and topical antifungal therapies.
To completely comprehend its impacts, additional study is necessary.
What is the purpose of urea cream?
Several disorders linked to dry, scaly, or rough skin are treated using urea creams and lotions.
It’s frequently used in particular to address foot issues like:
calluses, corns, and a few nail issues
Urea cream side effects
An allergic response might also result in more severe symptoms. Get medical help right away if you have symptoms like a fast heartbeat or difficulty breathing.
Additionally, some of the other components in the product you’re taking may absorb more quickly if you use urea. Urea may exacerbate a separate component sensitivity if you already have a bad response.
In general, urea products shouldn’t be used on young children under the age of two. The best person to tell you whether a urea cream is appropriate for your child is a doctor.
Percentages of urea used in skin care products
Urea can range in content from 2 percent to 40 percent in skin care products. Depending on the ailment you’re seeking to cure, you should use a certain proportion.
Cream or lotion with less than 10% urea
Moisturizing is the main function of skin care products with less than 10% urea. To treat dry skin or ailments that cause dry skin, a cream with a little amount of urea may be effective.
Between 10 and 20 percent
Urea creams and lotions have a keratolytic activity at concentrations above 10%, which aids in the exfoliation of dry, flaky skin.
Creams with 20 percent urea can be used to treat ailments like:
cracked heels, calluses, and rough skin
Higher than 20 percent
The highest exfoliating activity is provided by urea preparations with a concentration higher than 20%. These products might aid in the treatment of thick, infected nails.
Also read: Keratosis pilaris: What It Is, Causes, Symptoms & Home Remedies
What’s in urea cream, exactly?
The majority of animals’ urine contains urea. It follows that it is not strange that some individuals are curious about the source of urea in cosmetics.
Urea is produced synthetically in a lab and used in commercial cosmetics. To aid in fermentation, synthetic urea is frequently used in baked products and wines.
