Looking for medical grade skin care for your skin type?

We have you covered!

We are a group of dermatologists, doctors and skin care experts who test skin care products on the 16 different skin types and help you find the best skin care routine for your skin type.

If you take the quiz we will help you build a skin care routine from medical grade skin care brands.

Find the Best Information and Blogs on Skin Care Products

I wrote 2 best selling textbooks used in dermatology to teach dermatology residents about skin care products and cosmetic procedures.

The books are in many languages around the world,- and Baumann's Cosmetic Dermatology is on its 3rd edition!

In 2006, when I published my NY Times bestselling book The Skin Type Solution (2006), it was the first time I unveiled my 16 Skin Types System. 

The book was wildly popular. 

My skin care book focused on all types of products from drugstore brand products to medical-grade professional skincare products, to luxury skincare products, and made the point that you do not have to spend a lot of money to get the most effective skincare products. 

Now it is almost 2 decades later, and I have learned something important in the last 18 years- drugstore brands change their names and formulations often to keep up with trends- often at the expense of science. 

The formulations, even when the skincare product name is the same, can vary from country to country.  The companies tend to change the product names often and pretend that the product is new. 

This makes it impossible for me to properly research the products and test them with other products to design the best medical skincare routines.  By the time our skin care routine testing on the 16 different skin types was complete- the formulations were different!

For this reason, although I am still looking for the most inexpensive skincare solutions, I recommend fewer drugstore skincare brands and focus more on the physician-dispensed skincare products that tend to have more research behind them and stable formulations.

Over the last 16 years I have worked with dermatologists to test skin care products from many medical grade skin care brands so that I can give you the best advice on dermatologist-recommended skin care routines.

When you take the skin type quiz, we will help you build your skin care routine step by step.

You will be able to choose from different brands and price points at each step.

This is the best way to find affordable medical grade skin care that really works and has evidence behind it.

We have over 40,000 skin care routines! 

To find which regimen right for you, you need to know your Baumann Skin Type.

In some cases, medical grade products are better.

To find a list of the best medical grade skin care brands click here.

Many medical grade skin care brands were developed by dermatologists.

I have teamed up with dermatologists and cosmetic chemists around the world to choose the best products from top medical-grade skincare lines.

I combine them to form medical skincare routines and test them in my medical practice on the corresponding Baumann Skin Types®.

I pay very close attention to how products are layered. Even the top medical skincare lines will not work if they are combined with products that decrease their efficacy. 

We choose the best medical strength skincare and organize it into the best skincare routine step order for your Baumann Skin Type.

We have tested these routines on over 100,000 dermatology patients.

Are medical grade products better than most drugstore brands?

The problem with some drugstore brand skincare is:

By the time our testing is complete, they often change the formula

Product names change often

They are made of cheap ingredients such as lower grade oils

They may use less pure water

What is the difference between medical grade products vs over- the counter products?

There is not a set or legal definition of “skincare products - medical grade”.

There is a set regulatory definition of over the counter products.

1. Drugs
2. Over the counter (OTC)
3. Cosmetics

Drugs are intended to treat disease and require an extensive and expensive FDA approval process.  Examples a Retin A®, Tri-Luma®, Aczone®, Onexton®, MetroGel® and other prescription medications. I am involved in many drug trials in my Miami Cosmetic Dermatology Clinic.

Over The Counter (OTC)- These are medications that have been “grandfathered in” and can make drug claims if they contain a certain level of set ingredients.  The rules and requirements to be an OTC skincare product are found in an FDA “monograph”. 

An example is a sunscreen product or an acne OTC product.

To claim that a skincare product treats skin disease, the company must follow the requirements found in the monograph. For example, in order for a product to claim that it works for acne, it must:

1. 1.  Go through the FDA drug approval process, or 
   2. Contain a monographed ingredient. Examples of monographed acne treatment ingredients are salicylic acid 0.5%- 2%, benzoyl peroxide 2.5%- 10%, resorcinol 2%, sulfur 3-10%. Companies are not allowed to say that a product works for can unless it meets these criteria.

Cosmetics are defined as products to improve the appearance of the skin but not affect skin biology. 

Examples include makeup, moisturizers, serums and cleansers.

Of course, many cosmetics affect skin biology, but the regulations are based on what is claimed- not what actually occurs biologically. 

This means that many cosmetic skin care products have ingredients that affect cellular processes.  These are referred to as medical-grade skincare products, professional skincare, physician-dispensed skincare products or cosmeceuticals- but these are not real terms recognized or regulated by the FDA.

I use the term medical-grade skincare or professional skincare to mean skincare products that have been tested by dermatologists, sold in their offices, and shown to be effective on various Baumann Skin Types®.

At Skin Type Solutions®, we choose the best medical grade skin care products that:

Have the correct skin care ingredients for the corresponding Baumann Skin Type

Do not have ingredients that should be avoided by that Baumann Skin Type. 

Have stable formulations that don’t change with every new trend but stick to proven science.

Are formulated using the proper form of the ingredients. (this is critical with retinol- many use retinyl palmitate or another substitute for real retinol)

Ingredients are added to the formulation in the correct order and manner during manufacturing. 

Are manufactured properly (Many ingredients such as retinol and ascorbic acid require an airless, dark atmosphere during manufacturing)

 Are packaged properly to protect the skincare ingredients from air and light

Have been tested and shown to improve the skin 

Have been layered together into skin care routines and tested on the various Baumann Skin Types

Luckily -you can find good medical-grade skincare that is inexpensive, and you do not have to spend a lot of money to have healthy skin.

However, you do need to use the correct combination of medical-grade skin care products in the proper dermatologist-tested skincare routine order.

Read here about how we can help you build a skin care routine and save money.

You need to know your skin type to find the best products, but these are our favorite anti-aging products that have the latest technology.

Five new antiaging products that are medical grade:

1. Plated SkinScience Intense Serum
2. Alastin Regenerating Skin Nectar
3. Sente Dermal Repair Cream
4. Defenage 8 in 1 BioSerum
5. Derma Made Retinol + Bakuchiol Serum

At Skin Type Solutions, we use only skincare routines that have been tested on the corresponding Baumann Skin Type by our participating dermatologists and medical providers.

We choose medical-grade skin care products and put them in a skincare routine order that increases the efficacy of all of the products.

Products work better when used in an exact order according to how they layer together.

Our dermatologists use these specific skincare routine steps on our patients corresponding to their Baumann Skin Type and communicate with each other about any issues or side effects. 

This way we can share experiences with other doctors and perfect the skincare routines. 

All is this is done WITHOUT any brand influence. 

In other words, the skincare brands are not involved in this research, they do not provide funding and we do not have any obligation to them.  This allows all the doctors in Skin Type Solutions to be brand agnostic (independent from the influence of skincare brands.)

Read more about why you need a custom medical grade skin care solution for your skin's problems.

The Federal Trade Commission oversees marketing claims. “Dermatologist Recommended” is discussed in section 255.3 of the FTC guidelines and says :

The endorsement must be supported by an actual exercise of that expertise in evaluating product features or characteristics with respect to which he or she is expert and which are relevant to an ordinary consumer’s use of or experience with the product and are available to the ordinary consumer. This evaluation must have included an examination or testing of the product at least as extensive as someone with the same degree of expertise would normally need to conduct in order to support the conclusions presented in the endorsement. To the extent that the advertisement implies that the endorsement was based upon comparison, such comparison must have been included in the expert’s evaluation; and as a result of such comparison, the expert must have concluded that, with respect to those features on which he or she is expert and which are relevant and available to an ordinary consumer, the endorsed product is at least equal overall to the competitors’ products. Moreover, where the net impression created by the endorsement is that the advertised product is superior to other products with respect to any such feature or features, then the expert must in fact have found such superiority.

Basically, a dermatologist-recommended skincare product only needs one dermatologist who has personally used that product on their patient to make the claim. 

If the dermatologist states the product is better than another product, they are required to have actually tried both and compared the results. 

Many skin care products claim to be “dermatologist recommended”, however, it is not very common to find a dermatologist-recommended skincare routine.

Another reason I developed Skin Type Solutions so that dermatologists can use the same skin type terminology and compare the results they see with different skincare routines. 

It is not enough to know that a dermatologist recommends a skincare product, it is better if the dermatologist has tested the entire skincare regimen.

Medical grade skincare products, by my definition, are skincare products that have been tested by dermatologists, sold in their offices, and shown to be effective on various Baumann Skin Types®.

There are many reasons to choose medical-grade skincare approved by Skin Type Solutions:

1. We work with doctors to independently test the products without any brand influence to prevent bias
2. We make sure the products are made properly and packaged properly
3. We have tested the medical-grade products on patients with the 16 different Baumann Skin types.

Dermatologist- recommended medical-grade skin care will help you get clear skin fast, prevent you from wasting money on products that are not right for your skin type, protect your skin from harmful skincare ingredients.  If you have rosacea, acne, melasma and eczema- your dermatologist can combine these products with medications so that your skin improves much faster.

Only doctors who have been approved can use the scientifically validated and patented Baumann Skin Typing System to generate customized medical-grade skincare routines. 

Dermatologists know the most about skin care science.  With Skin Type Solutions you get dermatologist skincare advice from expert dermatologists such as myself who have specialized in skin care science for decades. Over 100 dermatologists and 150+ medical providers that specialize in skincare science use the Skin Type Solutions system.

You can find a skin care expert that uses the 16 Skin Type System here.

We work together to give you the best advice on medical-grade skincare routines.

However, you must take the skin care routine quiz. 

This quiz categorizes your skin into one of 16 Baumann Skin Types based on the 4 biggest skin problems that your skin care should target.