Vitamin C is one of the best anti-aging ingredients a skin care professional can recommend.  In fact, I believe everyone would benefit from it.  I have recommended it for years and have seen just how much improvement it can make. Vitamin C has set the gold standard and is considered the Rolls Royce of antioxidants.  It's capacity to fight free radicals is even used as the control against which all other antioxidants are tested.  

 
Medical studies have shown that the most effective form of vitamin C is L-Ascorbic Acid.  This form absorbs well when topically applied and studies have proven it to have dramatic healing and anti-aging results in the skin.  It needs to be applied topically as you would have to take hundreds of pills daily to get enough into your system to improve your skin.  The problem with L-ascorbic acid is that it is very unstable in a water solution.  It starts to oxidize almost immediately.  Oxidation is the same process which causes a nail to rust.  You don’t want to put that on your face.  For this reason, L-ascorbic acid should be stabilized in a lipid base.  This also makes it more expensive but it is definitely worth the price difference.   A 10% concentration of L-ascorbic acid works extremely well in repairing sun damage hyperpigmentation or spots, reducing or eliminating fine lines and wrinkles, and giving the skin a healthy, even color. 

Vitamin C:

 
* Is essential for the production of collagen, a structural protein of the skin.

* Is a potent antioxidant which can help reduce damage caused by free radicals.

* Can protect against UVA and UVB damage such as redness, the formation  of abnormal cells, and suppression of the immune system.

* Was reported to inhibit the production of melanin in the Journal of  American Academy of Dermatology.

* Regenerates the antioxidant Vitamin E in the skin.  Vitamin E can only neutralize a limited number of free radicals in the skin before it is used up.  This    provides continued antioxidant protection in the skin’s elastin fibers.

* Plays a key role in skin repair.  When the skin is wounded, Vitamin C scavenges free radicals, and helps speed healing through increased collagen synthesis.