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Botanical Library · The Repair Leaf
Centella Asiatica for Skin
Centella asiatica (L.) Urban — “cica”, gotu kola
The recovery ingredient — the one that helps skin rebuild after you have asked something of it. Which, if you are having facials, is most of the time.
At a glance
What it is
Centella is a low creeping herb with round, coin-shaped leaves that grows in wet ground across India, Southeast Asia and southern China. It has been used in Ayurvedic and traditional Chinese medicine for centuries, and it is eaten as a vegetable and drunk as a tonic as well as applied to skin.
K-beauty made it famous as cica — shorthand from Centella and the “cicatrisation” it was traditionally associated with. If a product is sold as a recovery cream or barrier balm, there is a good chance this is what is in it.
It is in the carrot family, alongside celery, parsley and coriander.
Four molecules doing the work
Centella's activity comes from a set of related pentacyclic triterpenoid saponins — two glycosides and their corresponding aglycones.
- Asiaticoside and madecassoside — the two you will see named on labels.
- Asiatic acid and madecassic acid — their aglycone forms, generally considered the more directly active versions.
What they actually do
Collagen support via TGF-β. This is the interesting one. Centella's triterpenes act on the TGF-β/Smad pathway, which drives production of extracellular matrix — the collagen and structural proteins that hold skin up. Most calming ingredients only calm; this one supports rebuilding too.
Inflammation dialled down. Centella attenuates NF-κB and JAK/STAT3 signalling, two central inflammatory pathways.
Oxidative and glycation stress. It also mitigates both — the second putting it in the same territory as cherry blossom.
The catch: it has to get in
Centella's active compounds are large and polar, which makes crossing the skin barrier genuinely difficult. A great deal of the research is not about whether the molecules work — it is about how to deliver them.
Liposomes, niosomes, phytosomes and transfersomes all appear in the literature as ways to get centella deeper into the epidermis with better stability and sustained release.
What that means when you shop: centella near the bottom of a long ingredient list, in a basic lotion, is probably doing less than the label implies. Formulation matters here more than for most botanicals — the same problem magnolia bark has.
How strong is the evidence?
Mechanistically excellent, clinically still maturing. The pathways are well mapped and consistent across many studies. A 2021 review of centella in skin disease concluded that rigorously controlled long-term clinical trials are still needed to confirm its full potential.
Much of the human trial work sits in wound care — diabetic ulcers, burns, surgical wounds — which is medical territory, not ours. Encouraging, but not the same as proving what a cica cream does for a normal face.
Our position: centella is a well-founded, low-risk recovery ingredient with unusually good mechanistic support. We use it because barrier recovery is exactly what skin needs after we have exfoliated or extracted.
Worth knowing
Centella belongs to the Apiaceae family, along with celery, carrot, parsley and coriander. Reactions are uncommon, but if you have a known allergy in that family, patch-test first and tell us before your treatment.
How to use it
Centella is a repair step, not a treatment step. Use it in the evening after actives, or on the days after a facial when skin feels tight or reactive. It layers well under moisturiser and plays nicely with almost everything — it has no meaningful conflicts with retinoids or acids.
It is one of the few ingredients worth having on hand specifically for the two or three days after a professional treatment. See before and aftercare.
Where does this fit for you?
Home care is half the equation. Our guides connect it to the other half.
Where we use it
Resurfacing Renewal Facial
Diamond microdermabrasion and ultrasonic exfoliation take the surface down deliberately. Centella belongs to what comes after. Aftercare: Resurfacing Renewal guide.
Back-Clearing Facial
Extractions on back skin ask a lot of the barrier. Aftercare: Back-Clearing guide.
Signature Glow Facial
Where we assess what your skin can take, and how quickly it recovers. Aftercare: Signature Glow guide.
For the other calming botanicals we lean on, see calendula, magnolia bark and aloe vera.
Sources
- Pharmacological Effects of Centella asiatica on Skin Diseases: Evidence and Possible Mechanisms. NIH / PMC.
- Centella asiatica in skin health and cosmeceuticals: mechanisms, clinical evidence, and advanced delivery systems. Pharmacia, 2025.
- Topical Application of Centella asiatica in Wound Healing: Recent Insights into Mechanisms and Clinical Efficacy. NIH / PMC.
- Actions and Therapeutic Potential of Madecassoside and Other Major Constituents of Centella asiatica. MDPI.
Ready for the professional half?
Every visit begins with a skin assessment — including how well your barrier is recovering.
Book Your FacialLumina Skin Sanctuary is a licensed esthetician studio in Fort Myers, FL — not a medical spa. We do not diagnose or treat wounds, ulcers, burns or any medical condition, and nothing here is medical advice. Patch-test new products and tell us about allergies before your treatment.