All the reasons to be skeptical of the skincare ingredient everyone swears by

A filler without needles. Volume without injections. It sounds like a dream for anyone who starts to lose skin tone, elasticity and facial fullness after the age of thirty five. That is how this ingredient has been praised for years. Now that The Ordinary has released its own version of a Volufiline serum, its popularity has exploded.

And while I am often impressed by The Ordinary’s new launches and their choice of innovative ingredients that are usually known only behind the scenes until the brand places them in the spotlight, this latest release surprised me a little. I keep wondering: if Volufiline, an ingredient that has been around since 2013, is truly that effective, how is it that it has not already become an essential anti aging step like retinoids?

What is Volufiline?

Volufiline is a patented oil soluble extract from the root of the plant Anemarrhena asphodeloides. I first heard about it in 2022, even though it was patented back in 2013. Its purpose is to give the appearance of increased skin elasticity and volume. It is said to work by stimulating the proliferation of lipocytes, or adipocytes, which means it may encourage the creation of new fat cells.

How is Volufiline used?

You add a few drops of it to your moisturizer and apply it to the areas of the skin where you notice a loss of volume. Fans of this ingredient most often use it to address hollow under eyes or to visibly plump lines around the lips, at least temporarily.

Photo: Eliza Alves

Why am I skeptical about the effectiveness of Volufiline?

How it was clinically tested

The first seed of doubt comes from the clinical study conducted by the company Sederma. The study tested the ingredient on the breasts of women who were still of reproductive age over a period of 56 days. They applied the ingredient to the chest area, and the study reported a 2.2 percent increase in size. But if we think about breasts for a moment, they naturally fluctuate in size even without Volufiline. Weight changes or different phases of the menstrual cycle can cause them to become larger or smaller.

Although it is possible that the researchers tried to account for this, the study does not specify whether the measurements were taken during the same phase of each participant’s cycle or whether weight changes occurred. The brand also did not test the ingredient on the face, which I consider essential if it is being marketed as beneficial for facial skincare.

Photo: Andrean Lim

Penetrating all the way to fat cells

The second type of study presented by Sederma is an in vitro test, which means the ingredient was applied directly to fat cells in a laboratory setting to measure adipocyte proliferation. While this allows the serum to act directly on the cells, human skin has a far more complex structure. I am highly skeptical that a serum applied topically can penetrate deep enough to reach the skin’s fat tissue. That would require it to travel even below the dermis. As a molecule measuring around 400 Da, and with the commonly accepted upper limit for epidermal penetration being about 500 Da, it might reach the dermis, but for Volufiline to work, it would have to go deeper still.

How can the growth of fat cells be controlled?

Let us imagine for a moment that the serum truly works and all my previous doubts disappear. How would I know what kind of adipocyte proliferation will occur? Will the growth be uniform? Is it even possible to control that new fat cell development? Will I get volume exactly where I want it, or will my face become lumpy? Many questions can be raised here, because both the effect and the ability to control that effect feel insufficiently explained, at least to me.

Photo: Getty Images

Experts I trust do not believe in Volufiline

Some experts, including dermatologist Dr. Dray, cosmetic formulator Javon Ford, Alex Padgett and medicinal chemist Sarah Babule, do not believe in its effectiveness. Penetration is often cited as the primary concern, but the way the study was conducted is also a frequent point in their arguments.