Researchers in Japan have discovered that vitamin C not only protects skin—but actively reprograms it, reawakening its innate growth machinery to restore a youthful epidermis. A team from the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute for Geriatrics and Gerontology applied vitamin C to lab-grown human skin models and found a thicker epidermal layer within one week; by day 14, basal skin cells proliferated more vigorously while the outer dead layer thinned.

At the heart of this rejuvenation lies a genetic reset: vitamin C facilitates DNA demethylation, removing molecular “off” tags from hundreds of gene regions, including 12 critical for cell proliferation, which showed 1.6‑ to 75‑fold increases in activity. This happens via support of TET enzymes—vitamin C maintains the iron-dependent activity of these enzymes, enabling sustained gene reactivation.

The practical result is a thicker, more resilient epidermis—up to a 22 % boost in test models with optimized vitamin C derivatives. Importantly, this effect goes beyond its antioxidant role, tapping into epigenetic pathways to restore natural skin renewal.