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Not Your Mother's Cold Cream

By Kristina R. Anderson
Not Your Mother's Cold Cream

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A DEEP, DARK TAN used to be synonymous with beauty. Today, gorgeous and healthy skin is the new status symbol most coveted by women. But if we bought in to that beachy, tanned look in our youth and are now left with less-than-perfect skin in our 40s and 50s, can we ever reclaim that fresh and radiant glow—short of undergoing plastic surgery? The answer could lie in the sizzling anti-aging cosmeceutical industry, and San Diego’s biotech entrepreneurs and physicians are in the middle of the boom as purveyors of eternal youth.

Cosmeceuticals are the hot, sexy new cosmetic products on the market that have drug-like properties. Think of them as “cosmetic medicines.” As the baby boomer population ages but still wants to look fabulous, this has become the fastestgrowing segment in the natural personal-care industry. It’s expected to be a $16 billion industry by 2010. Cosmeceuticals are not to be confused, however, with a pharmaceutical product that must undergo rigorous, lengthy testing and clinical trials before coming to market; the term “cosmeceutical” in fact has no meaning under Food & Drug Administration law.

Just like cosmetics, cosmeceuticals are topically applied to the skin, but these are not your mother’s cold creams. They may contain powerful antioxidants, vitamins, botanicals, phytochemicals, enzymes—or even growth factors—all intended to influence the biological function of the skin and successfully reverse signs of aging.

Since the 1970s, biotech researchers have used the body’s proteins to discover new ways to treat disease. Utilizing modern techniques of cell and tissue culture, along with recombinant DNA technology, scientists now have a greater understanding of skin biology. That has resulted in a stream of agedefying, appearance-enhancing lotions and potions. So what does that mean for us?

One result of the new scientific technology is that dermatologists and plastic and cosmetic surgeons now have their own products. While the specific formulas and protocols may differ, developers all agree that the primary cause of premature aging is cumulative exposure to ultraviolet rays.

“A lot of attribute their wrinkles, sagging skin and blotchy pigmentation to ‘aging,’ and they don't realize that 80 to 90 percentof their problems are caused by sun exposure,” says Dr. Richard Fitzpatrick.

“THERE ARE SOME scientific studies that have shown that only 10 minutes a day of sun exposure results in more damage than the body can repair in a single day, so the damage must be addressed in other ways,” says Dr. Richard Fitzpatrick, director of the cosmetic dermatology division of La Jolla Cosmetic Surgery Centre. “A lot of patients attribute their wrinkles, sagging skin and blotchy pigmentation to ‘aging,’ and they don’t realize that 80 to 90 percent of their problems are caused by sun exposure. It’s that incidental sun exposure that catches up to people.”

Fitzpatrick is also the founder and chairman of Carlsbadbased SkinMedica, a privately held specialty pharmaceutical company marketing both prescription and cosmeceutical dermatology products. His anti-aging darling is NeuroCel-MD, the end result of a complex array of growth factors derived from tissue culture with added antioxidants. NeuroCel-MD is the active ingredient in SkinMedica’s TNS line, where the flagship product is called TNS Recovery Complex. (The Skin- Medica Web site has a list of physician offices and medical spas that carry the products.)

Just what are growth factors? “They’re complex messenger proteins that control the wound-healing process,” explains Fitzpatrick, who has been published extensively in peer-reviewed medical journals on the subject. “We recently analyzed this product and found 15 growth factors—a far greater number than we have ever claimed—and I think that’s an important part of explaining how the products may work.”

You may remember the Retin-A prescription craze that started back in 1971. Fitzpatrick says it not only still works, but it is still the best product. SkinMedica’s Retinol Complex is recommended for use in conjunction with the TNS line.

“The product that is the most valuable and the most proven are retinoids with Retin-A,” says Fitzpatrick. “It has had the most studies and is the most effective. Some type of retinoid will help not only to stimulate collagen but will also help in normalizing the pigment, and reverse early pre–skin cancers.”

But don’t think you can run down to the drugstore or to the mall and pick up SkinMedica’s TNS product line, or for that matter, most of the powerful new cosmeceuticals. They’re primarily sold through a network of licensed dermatologists, plastic and cosmetic surgeons, physicians and medical spas.