What Vitamin C Is Actually Doing Inside Your Skin, According to a Chemist
Vitamin C is often reduced to a single promise: glow.
But brightness is simply the visible side effect of something much deeper happening beneath the surface.
From a biochemical perspective, Vitamin C is not just a helpful antioxidant. It is required for life. And in skin, its role extends far beyond neutralizing free radicals. According to chemist Marie Veronique Nadeau, founder of her namesake skincare line Marie Veronique, the real story of Vitamin C begins at the level of collagen synthesis, cellular signaling, and even epigenetic regulation.
This is not trend chemistry. It is biology.
Vitamin C Is Required for Collagen Formation
There is a reason scurvy, the classic Vitamin C deficiency disease, presents with fragile skin and poor wound healing. Without Vitamin C, the body cannot properly build collagen.
At the molecular level, Vitamin C hydroxylates proline, an essential step in collagen biosynthesis. That hydroxylation process allows collagen to form a stable triple helix structure. Without it, collagen fibers are weak and disorganized.
No Vitamin C equals no collagen.
This is why topical Vitamin C is not simply a brightening agent. It supports the structural integrity of skin tissue. It helps stabilize what is already there and supports the formation of new collagen in response to signaling molecules, including retinoids.
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