*Correspondence: Hendrik Stragier, [email protected] Disclaimer All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers
doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-18195-8 56
Murphy and his family had no idea the FDA had been investigating the company, and it was not until February 2025 that he was told that the drugs he had been taking had been mixed with steroids

Applying vitamin C to your skin may reduce hyperpigmentation by interfering with an enzyme called tyrosinase, which is responsible for the production of melanin, a natural skin pigment ( Moreover, vitamin C acts as a brightening agent and can reduce the appearance of darkened spots without changing the natural color of your skin ( Some human studies that combine topical vitamin C with iontophoresis an electrical gradient applied to the skin found significant reductions in hyperpigmentation ( Though this method is promising, iontophoresis increases vitamin C absorption into your skin, meaning that topical application of vitamin C alone may not yield the same results ( Furthermore, most related studies use vitamin C in combination with other anti-hyperpigmentation ingredients like alpha-hydroxy acids, making it hard to determine the specific effects of the vitamin