Cosmeceuticals: Blending Beauty and Science

Nov. 1 -- The cosmetics industry is getting an education from pharmaceutical companies — merging the pursuit of youthful skin with scientific technology.

No longer are women willing to take anti-aging products and beauty advice at face value.

"It's the dawning of the age of the cosmeceutical — where lab meets lipstick and science meets beauty," says Dr. Nancy Snyderman. "Baby boomers, who've changed everything they touch, now see their skin wrinkling, their smile lines turning to frowns...and they are willing to pay to fix it."

The Food and Drug Administration does not even recognize the term cosmeceutical. It has no legal meaning. But cosmetics that make medical claims are exploding in popularity worldwide.

"Cosmeceuticals are a $1.9 billion industry and by 2006, $3.9 billion, which is about a 70 percent increase," says Linda Wells, editor in chief of Allure magazine.

And according to some, it is the populace, the marketplace, that is going to drive the science.

"There's a few things that we know about this generation, which I think are gonna create a huge consumer demand, which is going to fuse with this enormous new medical scientific capability to create dozens of amazing products and trillions of dollars being spent," says Ken Dychtwald, author of ten books on aging-related issues.

From Wound Healing to Skin Plumping

Many of the newer products that show some promise have taken their lead from the science behind wound healing.

"Wound healing is complex, probably the most complex subject in all of biology," says Dr. Peter Elias, a dermatologist at the San Francisco Veterans Administration Medical Center. "It takes a whole range of different approaches, both prescription and non-prescription, to impact on these different wound healing situations."

Copper is one example of an approach to treating wounds that has been harnessed for firming aging skin.

"Copper is a mineral that has been used in wound care for the past 10 or 15 years," said Francine Porter, co-founder and president of Osmotics, a Boulder, Colo.-based cosmeceutical company. "We found the technology from a biotech company and we realized that everything that it does and the effects it has on the skin are exactly the types of things you want to address when dealing with aging skin."