Fusidyne Derma Trouble Balancing Serum

What is this product?

Fusidyne's Derma Trouble Balancing Serum is worth a look precisely because it publishes numbers almost no blemish serum does: a Fusidium ferment at 50,220ppm and both protease and white water lily extract at 25,110ppm, with niacinamide eleventh of 40 ingredients. There is still no salicylic acid or benzoyl peroxide in it, but it is not acid-free either: protease at 7 and lipase at 38 are the two enzymes, while gluconolactone at 28 is a polyhydroxy acid and succinic acid is printed at 32. It does contain denatured alcohol at position 12, which is the reason to skip it if alcohol stings your skin.

What makes it different?

Two enzymes sit in this leave-on serum, protease at 7 and lipase at 38, working on the corneocyte plug and on surface sebum. Gluconolactone at 28 is often read alongside them but it is not an enzyme: it is the lactone of gluconic acid, a polyhydroxy acid, and succinic acid is printed at 32, so the exfoliating side of this label is part enzymatic and part acid rather than enzyme-only. The brand name traces to Fusidium coccineum, the fungus behind fusidic acid, and a ferment of it leads the formula at a stated 50,220ppm, though a ferment filtrate is not the antibiotic and carries none of its evidence. Its own line-mate cream shares the ferment but prints no amounts at all and carries no denatured alcohol, though it does carry fatty alcohols including C14-22 alcohol and cetearyl alcohol, so the two are genuinely different documents to read. Nothing here is fragranced or oiled, Fusidyne publishes no pH, and it comes in 40g.

What is in it?

The full ingredient list as the brand publishes it, in the printed order. Each name links to what we know about that ingredient.

This brand publishes its ingredient list in Korean only. Names below are the matching INCI names from the Korean Cosmetic Association ingredient dictionary.

Key ingredientWorth a closer look

• Water
• Glycerin
• Butylene Glycol
• Propanediol
• Fusidium Coccineum Ferment Lysate Extract Filtrate
• Methylpropanediol
• Protease
• Nymphaea Alba Flower Extract
• 1,2-Hexanediol
• Betaine
• Niacinamide
• Alcohol Denat.
• Glyceryl Polymethacrylate
• Pentylene Glycol
• Chlorella Vulgaris Extract
• Cryptomeria Japonica Leaf Extract
• Nelumbo Nucifera Leaf Extract
• Saccharomyces Ferment
• Aspergillus Ferment
• Triticum Aestivum (Wheat) Seed Extract
• Ammonium Acryloyldimethyltaurate/VP Copolymer
• Acrylates/C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer
• Glucose
• Tromethamine
• Diphenyl Dimethicone
• Fructooligosaccharides
• Fructose
• Gluconolactone
• Triethylhexanoin
• Cellulose Gum
• Ethylhexylglycerin
• Succinic Acid
• Hydrogenated Lecithin
• Maltodextrin
• Tocopherol
• Dipropylene Glycol
• Caprylyl/Capryl Glucoside
• Lipase
• Ceramide NP
• Xanthan Gum

Ingredients with no mark are ones we found nothing notable about, and when marks overlap on one ingredient we show the caution first.

We could not place these in the list above: Triethylhexanoin, Caprylyl/Capryl Glucoside

Did the ad claims hold up?

We checked 2 lines this product advertises against the ingredient list and public documents. One of them looks likely, though none are proven outright.

Claims translated from Korean, originals preserved.

Each line is quoted as the brand published it, and each one was read on its own against the ingredient list and the documents the brand publishes.

How we read these lines