diff --git a/lib/request.js b/lib/request.js
index 2cb7447..276fd50 100644
--- a/lib/request.js
+++ b/lib/request.js
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ var qs = require('querystring');
 var typeis = require('type-is');
 var fresh = require('fresh');
 var url = require('url');
+var typer = require('media-typer');
 var stringify = url.format;
 var parse = url.parse;
 
@@ -272,12 +273,10 @@ module.exports = {
    */
 
   get charset() {
-    // TODO: lame, we could have a generic param parsing lib
     var type = this.get('Content-Type');
     if (!type) return;
 
-    var m = type.match(/charset *= *(\S+)/);
-    if (m) return m[1];
+    return typer.parse(type).parameters.charset;
   },
 
   /**
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 26403ff..4dce4e0 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@
     "accepts": "~1.0.0",
     "type-is": "~1.3.1",
     "mime-types": "~1.0.0",
+    "media-typer": "~0.2.0",
     "finished": "~1.2.0",
     "co": "~3.0.2",
     "debug": "*",
diff --git a/test/request/charset.js b/test/request/charset.js
index df3e51e..87ded1e 100644
--- a/test/request/charset.js
+++ b/test/request/charset.js
@@ -25,4 +25,4 @@ describe('req.charset', function(){
       req.charset.should.equal('utf-8');
     })
   })
-})
\ No newline at end of file
+})