Wonder cream: Wrinkle-filler regenerates skin collagen

February 24th, 2007

WASHINGTON: Restylane, a popular cosmetic treatment for temporarily plumping out wrinkles, actually makes the skin produce more collagen, the natural stuff that makes skin look young, researchers said on Monday.

That means the product, which millions of people have had injected around their lips, cheeks and foreheads, has effects beyond even what its manufacturers claim, the team at the University of Michigan Health System reported.

The researchers tested Restylane, marketed by Q-Med AB of Uppsala, Sweden and Medicis Pharmaceutical Corp. It and rival products use hyaluronic acid, which holds onto water in the skin.

“Everybody had thought that the whole story with this stuff is that you inject it and because of its volume-filling nature that … it would go in and fill up whatever defect is there and that is why it made people look better,” dermatologist John Voorhees, who led the study, said in a telephone interview.

“What we are saying here is … that in addition to the space-filling concept, is it forcing your body to make its own collagen.”

That could mean regular injections could have long-lasting effects, Voorhees said. “The half-life of collagen is 15 years. It is going to last a whole lot longer than what a whole lot of people are thinking.”

In the February issue of Archives of Dermatology, Voorhees and colleagues wrote that Restylane’s plumping action stretches the fibroblasts, the cells in the skin that make collagen, and prompts them to make more of it.

It also may interfere with the breakdown of existing collagen. The company did not pay for the experiment and does not know what the report says, they said. Rival Allergan Inc makes a similar dermal filler called Juvederm and privately held BioForm Medical Inc makes one called Radiesse.

But Voorhees said he did not test them, and their products are different enough that they may have different effects. “The various fillers are not going to be identical,” he said. Voorhees’ team injected Restylane into the arms of 11 volunteers who had sun damage and were aged 64 to 84. They then cut out little plugs of skin to analyze them.

The search is on now to find out what causes the change in the cell. Understanding this could help find a way to regenerate many types of cells, not only skin cells.

Source:The Times Of India