Licensed professionals are able to carry skincare items with a higher percentage of active ingredients and deeper penetration abilities. More potent active ingredients and penetration are crucial in actually causing change in the skin. The ability of medical grade skin care products to produce such great results has to do with the products and ingredients ability to penetrate the top layer of skin. The medical grade products work at the dermis, or middle layer of the skin, where collagen and elastin are contained and the basal, or bottom layer of the skin, where new skin cells are produced. Over the counter products, however, work only on the epidermis, or top layer of skin, where we shed skin cells and the new skin cells, created in the basal layer, eventually show up. For true restoration, treatment needs to be directed towards the deeper skin layers.