Do Wrinkle Creams Work?

With the retirement age rising, the pressures to stay young looking and vibrant to remain competitive in the workforce has never been more demanding. As the baby boomers get older and the median age increases, the cosmetic market is booming and more and more wrinkle creams are flying from the shelves. Despite the demand, do these anti-aging complexes really have the power to get the job done? Let’s see what some of the experts are saying.

Introduction

Academic research is hard to find on the efficacy of cosmetic creams and wrinkle removers, but if you look hard enough you can find credible studies. The reason for the scarcity is because most researchers are afraid that they would be viewed as an accomplice in some marketing scheme to get more people to buy wrinkle creams. Scouring the articles we could find though, we have compiled information on a few approaches that do work and few that don’t.

Creams That Aren’t Worth Your Time

One wrinkle cream approach that doesn’t work is a formula that includes collagen and elastin in the cream itself. Products like this have long been said to produce anti-aging and anti-wrinkle benefits, but in reality they can’t. According to the Department of Dermatology at St. Vincent’s Hospital at the University of Melbourne, these molecules are too large and are thus “incapable of penetrating the epidermal skin barrier to gain access to the dermis, where the aging process predominantly occurs.” This means that you need to look for a cream that stimulates the production of collagen and elastin rather than by providing it.

Creams That Pass the Test

According to the same article from St. Vincent’s Hospital at the University of Melbourne, one of the better compounds to look for in an anti-aging cream is retinoic acid as it “has been shown to reverse or prevent chronological aging.” In one study, retinoic acid was shown to efface wrinkles and repair damaged skin among hairless mice that had been exposed to harsh UVB radiation. The study was conducted by the Department of Pharmacology and Chemotherapy and showed that retinoic acid could lead to permanent anti-wrinkle results.

Another feature to look for in creams that really work, is peptide content. These little protein chains are one of the best weapons out there to combat the appearance of fine line and wrinkles. Studies conducted by the University of Grenada’s Pharmacology Department examined the effectiveness of a popular peptide called Argireline, an agent used to fight the wrinkles caused by facial expressions. Test subjects with oily and dry skin were administered daily helpings of Argireline for one month. By the end, the researchers concluded that their studies “verified that there was a notable reduction in the dimensions of the wrinkle studied in each patient during the month of treatment.” Aside from reducing depth and width of wrinkles, Argireline was shown to increase levels of moisturization across the board.

Starting Young

As we’ve illustrated above, the answer to the question “Do Wrinkle Creams Work?” is a resounding YES . . . as long as you use the right cream with the right ingredients. However, not only is it important to choose the right cream, it’s important to use it at the right time. The anti-wrinkle war we wage is just as much about prevention as it is about treatment. This is why it’s important to start taking care of your skin now. By taking precautionary steps when you’re younger, you’ll have fewer problems to fix later down the road. One of the best precautions to take in your youth is protecting yourself from the sun. Many people don’t know that most of the wrinkling, loss of elasticity, broken blood capillaries, and pigmentation changes we chalk up to aging are actually caused by solar damage. This means that sunscreen, or products with sunscreen ingredients may be just as important as high quality wrinkle creams in the fight against wrinkles.

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