Skincare products seem to be a situation where you get what you pay for. That’s not to say that over-the-counter options are bad, but that medical-grade products simply go above and beyond, which is why they’re usually priced in the hundreds of dollars. Medical-grade skincare has a much higher concentration of the active ingredient, compared with any given OTC product, as explained by plastic surgeon Dr. Adam H. Hamawy. This is a big part of what makes them more expensive. “A higher amount of the active ingredient usually equates to better-looking skin,” he explains on his blog.

Medical-grade skincare products also typically have better quality active ingredients than OTC products. The latter has some active ingredients in them, but they’re often less pure and less well-made than their medical-grade counterparts. Naturally, products with more and Better ingredients, like retinol or salicylic acid, are going to cost more than watered-down versions. Plus, there are simply not as many filler ingredients taking up space in a medical-grade bottle as there are in an OTC product.