Anti-Aging Creams: Real Wrinkle Cure or Just Hope in a Jar?

May 7, 2010— -- Americans spend billions of dollars every year on products promising to smooth out wrinkles and restore the glow of youth to skin, but are they actually getting a bang for their buck? Though the labels promise to fill in wrinkles and reverse the signs of age, dermatologists warn that most of the time, you're just buying "hope in a jar."

In recent years, cosmetics have gone high-tech, with many brands proudly advertising engineered formulas that are "scientifically proven" and names that sound more like pharmaceuticals than face cream, giving rise to the hybrid term "cosmeceuticals".

The problem, dermatologists say, is that cosmetics by their very definition are not medicine. They are not held to the same regulatory or scientific standards as pharmaceuticals.

What's more, if a product could actually change "the structure or function" of the skin cells, it would have to be considered a drug by the FDA, and then of course, it couldn't be made available without a prescription, says Dr. Darrell Rigel, clinical professor of Dermatology at New York University.

So, short of a trip to the plastic surgeon, what are shoppers concerned about their skin to do?

Botox injections and prescription anti-wrinkle creams, such as those containing retin-A, are proven to work, but if you want to keep it over the counter (and within your budget), there are ways to navigate the anti-aging product lines with modest results, dermatologists say.

ABCNews.com asked dermatologists to weigh in on how to navigate the anti-aging market.