My Skin Journey
DR CARL THORNFELDT
A
practising dermatologist with over
25 years’ experience treating the most
problematic skin concerns, Epionce
founder and CEO Dr Carl Thornfeldt has
created a range of topical products that respect
and strengthen the skin barrier like no other.
Here, he shares his experience of dealing with
childhood eczema, formulating products from
scratch, and finding the solution to the most
common skin diseases.
As a child, I suffered from patches of severe
eczema. At the time, the most common treat-
ment option was tar, sulphur or acids. Needless
to say, skin stained by tar, the odour from the
sulphur and all the scratching made it hard to
make or keep friends. I knew that I wanted to
try to prevent other children from having to
go through what I experienced. Now, my
biggest driver is wanting my patients to expe-
rience clearance of their disease so they can
have a better quality of life – regardless of what
the long term skin disease actually is.
I started Epionce after I realised that the exist-
ing options on the market just weren’t working
for many of my patients, and I needed a dif-
ferent approach. I realised that all our (topical)
therapies were destroying the protective skin
barrier, so I started working with Dr Peter Elias
to establish a team that focused on completely
original bench research on the structure and
function of the epidermis and its barrier. We
developed an understanding of the importance
of the skin barrier and its regulation, and also
discovered the role of inflammation as related
to skin diseases and skin ageing.
Our formulations are completely unique to
Epionce. Unlike many other brands, we did
not go to a third-party manufacturer to have
them create something from one of their ‘recipe’
books using common ingredients. Instead, we
do all the original research on ingredients and
formulations ourselves, then our formulating
chemists create the product. We also do clinical
studies for efficacy and safety on the final for-
mulation, and then we manufacture all of the
products in our own FDA-inspected drug
manufacturing facility.
Creating new products is incredibly complex.
I need to understand how all the components
of each of the ingredients work within the skin,
what the optimal concentrations for therapeutic
benefit are in the skin, and how they interact
with each other. This requires an in-depth
knowledge of the structure and function of
the skin plus the chemistry of active ingredi-
ents, and how and where to deliver the actives.
Additionally, certain techniques to deliver the
active ingredients must be employed because
the skin is so complex, with both oil and
water-soluble layers.
In a nutshell, the purpose of the Epionce
product line is to help me be a better doctor.
I want to provide products that reduce the side
effects of prescription products, improve clear-
ance rates and keep people’s skin clear.
The skin barrier is our protection against the
outside world. It keeps environmental insults
such as pollution, UV and microbes out. For
the skin barrier to properly keep all these insults
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