Where Do Medicube's PDRN Pads Land on Yuka?

Yuka reads Medicube's PDRN Pink Collagen Toning Gel Toner Pad at 91 out of 100, in the Excellent band. We took the reading in the app on 7 September 2026, where it appears truncated as "PDRN Pink Collagen Toning...". Two ingredients are flagged. Fifty-six come back risk-free.

If you searched for this because you scanned a Medicube pad and got a number in the sixties, you scanned a different pad. There are several, they are not close together, and this one is the outlier at the top.

Two Flags Out of Fifty-Eight

• Octyldodeceth-16, low risk. An emulsifying surfactant, present to keep the oil-soluble parts of the essence dispersed in a watery base.
• Jasminum officinale flower water, low risk. Jasmine flower water, classified in the Commission's inventory with a fragrance function.

That is the entire list. Two ingredients, both at the mildest level the app applies, on a formula of fifty-eight.

The counts line up exactly, which we checked before publishing: the published INCI list for this pad runs to fifty-eight ingredients, and Yuka's two flagged plus fifty-six risk-free is fifty-eight. No gap to explain.

What a 91 Does Not Tell You

This pad contains retinol. It also contains capryloyl salicylic acid, a lipophilic salicylic acid derivative. Neither is flagged.

We want to be precise about what that does and does not mean. Yuka scores ingredient risk against its own criteria, and on those criteria retinol at the position it occupies in this list is not a penalty. It is still a retinoid, and the practical consequences of putting a retinoid on your face every evening are the same whether an app flags it or not: irritation while you adapt, sun sensitivity, and a reason to be careful if you are pregnant.

So here is a case where the score and the caution point in opposite directions. The highest-scoring Medicube product we hold, outside a perfect 100, is also the one most likely to make your skin sting in week one. A 91 tells you the formula avoids what Yuka objects to. It is not a statement that the product is gentle.

What EU Law Says About the Two Flags

We ran both through our own CosIng lookup on 14 September 2026 rather than repeating what the app says. CosIng is the European Commission's database of cosmetic substances and the machine-readable form of the annexes to Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009.

Both returned an inventory record. Neither returned an entry in any annex. Octyldodeceth-16 is recorded with a single declared function, emulsifying surfactant. Jasmine flower water is recorded as a fragrance ingredient. Neither carries a maximum concentration, a product-type condition or a restriction of any kind in the annexes we can read, and we are not going to invent one. The Commission's own caveat applies and we carry it verbatim: the inclusion of an ingredient in the CosIng inventory is not an indication of authorisation, and only the Regulation itself has legal value in that respect.

We Were Wrong About Pads

In July we published an explanation of why Medicube's toner pads score lower than its creams. The argument was that pad formats need heavier preservation and more solubilisers, because a jar of soaked pads gets opened and dipped into for months. It sounded right. This reading says it is not the reason.

A pad at 91 and a pad at 60 in the same brand cannot both be explained by the format they share. The Zero Pore Pad 2.0 reads 60, the original Zero Pore Pad reads 62, and the Deep Vita C Pads read 64. This one reads 91 in the same jar-and-dip format.

What separates them is the aromatic content. The Zero Pore pads carry a blend of six essential oils plus the limonene those oils contain, and every one of those is a flag. This pad carries a single flower water. Format was never the variable. Fragrance was.

Who This Is Still Fine For

• Anyone who wanted a high Yuka score and a treatment pad at the same time. Those two things do not usually come together and here they do.
• Skin that dislikes essential oils. Compared with the Zero Pore line, this formula is nearly aromatic-free.
• Retinol beginners, with the obvious condition. Every other evening, sunscreen in the morning, and stop stacking it with acids while your skin works it out.

Skip it if you are pregnant or breastfeeding, where a topical retinoid is a conversation with a clinician rather than with an app, and skip it if you are already using a prescription retinoid, because this adds to that rather than replacing it.

Alternatives Worth Knowing

At 91 there is not much headroom above this, so these are swaps for a different reason rather than a higher number.

• Skin1004 Madagascar Centella Toning Toner, 86/100. Five points lower and no retinoid at all. The swap if you want a calm toning step rather than a treatment one.
• The Ordinary Glycolic Acid 7% Toning Solution, 93/100. Two points higher and a completely different active. Exfoliation instead of renewal, and harsher with it.
• Biodance Bio Collagen Real Deep Mask, 93/100. For the nights you want the hydration half of this routine without an active on your face.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Yuka score of Medicube's PDRN pads?

91/100, in the Excellent band, read on 7 September 2026. The app lists the product as "PDRN Pink Collagen Toning..." and the packaging reads PDRN Pink Collagen Toning Gel Toner Pad. Two ingredients are flagged at low risk, octyldodeceth-16 and jasmine flower water, and fifty-six are returned risk-free.

Why does it score so much higher than the Zero Pore Pad?

Fragrance content. The Zero Pore pads carry six essential oils plus limonene, and each one collects a flag. This formula carries one flower water. The jar format the two share is not what separates them.

Does it really contain retinol?

Yes, and Yuka does not flag it. Treat the product as a retinoid product regardless of the score: introduce it slowly, use sunscreen, and avoid it in pregnancy without medical advice.

Our Verdict

This is the best-scoring Medicube product we have read that is not a plain sleeping mask, and the reason is unglamorous: the formulator left the essential oils out.

Buy it if you want a treatment pad with a clean ingredient profile, and go in knowing there is a retinoid in the jar that the number says nothing about. The rest of the range, including the pads that score thirty points lower, is in our Medicube Yuka guide, and every score we hold for the brand sits on the Medicube hub.