It sits in every medicine cabinet, it is prescribed more than any other skin care product. This year, this product popular with the French celebrates its 25th anniversary.
Every house has its favorite tube in the medicine cabinet, the one that we grope for as soon as there is a redness, a scratch or tight skin. We buy it without thinking, and it ends up protecting the skin of the whole family, children and parents alike. When it itches, when the cold has damaged our hands, when the sun has been too strong, we turn to him.
For many people, this treatment was lying at the bottom of the toiletry bag, crushed, the cap a little sticky. Our mothers would put them on our skinned knees without even looking, out of reflex. And years later, we find ourselves doing the same, looking for a tube as soon as a child comes home with a sore.
What is less known is that it is not just a mainstream success. It is also the dermo-cosmetic treatment most prescribed by general practitioners in France. And this is not a simple impression: the observation is based on IQVIA prescription data, the reference in the pharmaceutical sector. No wonder: faced with minor skin ailments, doctors are looking for a well-tolerated formula that repairs and limits the risk of infection. This meets the specifications, hence their recommendation.
You’ve probably already had this tube in your hands: it’s Cicalfate+ from Avène. This year, it celebrates its 25th anniversary, and its popularity has never waned, to the point that one is sold every ten seconds in France. Number one in pharmacy, we choose it with our eyes closed. And for what it provides, it remains accessible: count around €10 for a 40 ml tube.
Formula side, it relies on the patented complex (C+-Restore)™, a post-biotic active ingredient taken from Avène Thermal Spring Water which accelerates regeneration, associated with soothing thermal water and a mixture of purifying copper and zinc sulfates. Its dressing effect texture, non-comedogenic, insulates the damaged area. Result: skin repaired in 48 hours and relief from the first application.
Its real asset is its versatility: no less than 45 indications. Far from being limited to redness in babies’ diaper areas, it soothes, in the middle of summer, itchy sunburns, friction from sandals or peeling skin. It is also suitable after a laser, a peel, on a recent tattoo, on chapped skin, intimate irritations or a raw acne spot. At the rate of two applications per day, without perfume, it is intended for the whole family.
One reservation, all the same: it doesn’t do everything. It’s not a sunscreen. In fact, it does not protect from the sun, it repairs it once the damage is taken. And on a deep wound or one that becomes infected, it is better to consult a doctor.
