Fall 2005 Style & Design
Indeed, antiaging products and skin care are the fastest-growing
segments of the $200 billion-plus global beauty industry, outpacing
fragrance and color cosmetics. And the demand for pretty skin is
definitely on the rise. At last count there were 10,000 dermatologists
in the U.S. According to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic
Surgery, 2.8 million Botox injections were given in the U.S. in 2004, a
25% increase from 2003. Chemical peels grew 54%, to more than 1.1
million.
"For all the people getting this, you've got to believe there are so
many more who can't afford it or are not ready to do it. And as a
cosmetic company, that's where we're focusing," says Alan Meyers, vice
president of research and development at L'Oréal, one of the companies
offering an all-out blitz of cosmeceuticals.
Most of the new products are based on recent scientific developments.
The technology behind Wexler's line, for example, pinpoints and attacks
a group of enzymes called MMPs (matrix metalloproteinases) that break
down collagen and elastin. The LED Wexler uses in her office inhibits
MMPs through light modulation. All of Wexler's products contain a
formulation, known as MMPi technology, that has a similar effect when
applied topically to the skin. The result: wrinkling is prevented, skin
tone is improved, and collagen and elastin growth are stimulated. Wexler
calls it her "hero" product.
ANOTHER TECHNOLOGY-BASED "hero" exclusive to Wexler is Niacyl, which
delivers moisture-boosting niacin, a B vitamin, to skin cells to
counterbalance the drying effects of other ingredients. Her Universal
Anti-Aging Moisturizer contains Matrixyl and Argireline, synthetic
peptides that trigger the skin to produce more collagen. Other products
make similar claims, but "ours is actually very strong," Wexler says.
Wexler is not the first dermatologist to break into cosmeceuticals.
L'Oréal, which recently purchased Texas-based SkinCeuticals, is so sold
on the potential of the new discoveries that it employs approximately
3,500 scientists stationed at labs around the world and staff members on
every continent whose sole job is to hunt for new botanicals and other
raw materials to be tested for possible efficacy. Over the next five
years L'Oréal will dedicate 4% of gross sales to research and
development. "Consumers are really focusing on not only getting clinical
efficacy but also trying to get results instantaneously," says L'Oréal's
Meyers.
That is what the products sporting the new technologies aim to provide.
SkinCeuticals, whose line is available through dermatologists' offices,
plastic surgeons and spas, recently released two products that it is
touting as groundbreaking. Retinol 1.0, launched last year, contains the
highest concentration of the wrinkle-fighting compound retinol available
without a prescription. C E Ferulic—a cocktail of skin-protecting and
-rejuvenating antioxidants based on research at Duke
University—addresses the fact that most sunscreens available in the
U.S. do not offer much protection against UVA rays, which damage the
skin even through clouds and windows. (Mexoryl, thought by
dermatologists to be the best UVA/UVB chemical sunscreen on the world
market, has not yet been approved by the FDA. It is, however, available
in Europe, Canada, Mexico and Australia, among other places.) C E
Ferulic is supposed to neutralize the free radicals caused by both UVA
and UVB rays and thus provide a whole new level of sun protection.
L'Oréal's ReFinish Micro-Dermabrasion Kit—the first mass-market product
of its kind—uses aluminum-oxide crystals, formerly available only from
a dermatologist, to smooth and polish the skin. Lancôme's Résolution Eye
D-Contraxol Intensive Anti-Wrinkle Eye Treatment, Meyers explains, uses
a form of magnesium to ease wrinkles around the eyes. Estée Lauder's
Perfectionist [CP+] contains polycollagen peptides, protein fragments
that allegedly prompt the skin to produce collagen, with the promise of
reduced wrinkles. And Kiehl's has a line coming out this fall called
Dermatologist Solutions that includes ingredients like micronized
shells, natural botanicals and pure vitamin C.
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