In the ingredient list or promotion of skin care products, “hyaluronic acid” and “sodium hyaluronate” are frequently mentioned terms. Many people are puzzled: Do these two names refer to the same thing? The answer is: They are closely related yet not exactly the same.

Two components of the same origin but different natures

Hyaluronic acid, usually abbreviated as HA, is a large-molecule polysaccharide that naturally exists in the human body. It is widely distributed in tissues such as the eyes, synovial fluid of joints, skin and umbilical cord, and is a “natural treasure” of the human body itself. This characteristic derived from the human body gives it a natural advantage in terms of safety. The most well-known ability of hyaluronic acid is its extremely strong water retention – it can absorb about 1,000 times its own weight in water, and thus is internationally recognized as an “ideal natural moisturizing factor”. In addition, it also has excellent lubricity, viscoelasticity, biodegradability and biocompatibility, and plays an important role in physiological processes such as joint lubrication, eye moisture retention and wound healing.

However, hyaluronic acid also has a “pity” : its content in the human body gradually decreases with age. Data shows that the hyaluronic acid content in the skin at the age of 30 is only 65% of that in infancy, and it drops to 25% by the age of 60. This is also one of the important reasons for skin aging, loss of elasticity and luster. For this reason, how to make up for this loss through external supplementation has become an important direction for the scientific research and industrial sectors, and technological innovation is the key to promoting its application.

Sodium hyaluronate is precisely the “derivative” of hyaluronic acid – it is the sodium salt form of hyaluronic acid. The core functional components of both are similar and they both have excellent moisturizing properties, but the structural differences make them quite distinct in performance and application.