Sesderma

Dr. Gabriel Serrano was a practising dermatologist in Valencia when he reached the conclusion that changed his career: the active ingredients in his patients' skincare were not reaching the layers of skin where they could actually work. The science was sound — vitamin C brightens, retinol renews, azelaic acid calms — but the delivery was failing. Molecules were sitting on the skin's surface, oxidising in their bottles, degrading before they could penetrate. The formulations his patients were buying were, in a pharmacological sense, underperforming.

In 1989, Serrano founded Sesderma in Valencia with a single obsession: delivery. Not new actives. Not new ingredients. Better delivery of the actives that already worked.

The liposomal breakthrough

Sesderma's defining technology is liposomal encapsulation — wrapping active ingredients in microscopic lipid vesicles (liposomes) that mimic the skin's own cell membrane structure. Because the liposome's outer shell is compositionally similar to the skin's lipid barrier, it passes through that barrier rather than bouncing off it. The active ingredient inside — vitamin C, retinol, azelaic acid, growth factors — reaches the deeper epidermal and dermal layers where it can actually influence cell behaviour.

The technology is not unique to Sesderma (pharmaceutical companies have used liposomal drug delivery for decades), but Sesderma was among the first to apply it systematically to cosmetic skincare, and the brand has built its entire identity around the concept. Every major Sesderma line uses liposomal delivery. The Sesderma C-Vit Liposomal Serum encapsulates vitamin C in liposomes so it reaches viable skin cells before oxidising. The Sesderma Azelac RU Liposomal Serum delivers azelaic acid and resorcinol to the melanocyte layer where pigmentation originates. The Sesderma Reti Age Antiaging Serum uses liposomal retinol to minimise the surface irritation that causes so many consumers to abandon retinoids.

The Valencia lab