Consumer Reports – Smooth info on wrinkle creams

By age 40, most people?s skin shows some wear and tear. As skin becomes thinner and less resilient, people develop wrinkly eyes, frowny foreheads and puppet-like crease lines from the sides of the nose to the corners of the lips.

To the supposed rescue come wrinkle creams, some with claims that border on the miraculous. (One, applied at night, will leave your wrinkles ?virtually slept away,? according to its manufacturer.) But after 12 weeks of testing products available in the United States on the faces of more than 200 women, we concluded that wrinkle creams make little difference, on average, in the skin?s appearance.

BARELY VISIBLE CHANGE

To be sure, there was some improvement on some faces from our testing ? our top-rated products did smooth out a few fine lines and wrinkles ? but even the best performers reduced the average depth of wrinkles by less than 10 percent. That?s a magnitude of change barely visible to the naked eye.

Moreover, the luxury-priced skin-care offerings didn?t work any better than the drugstore brands. La Prairie Cellular ? at $335 for an ounce of day cream and 1.7 ounces of night cream, the most costly product we tested ? was among the least effective. Better at wrinkle reduction was Olay Regenerist, whose ?enhancing lotion,? ?perfecting cream? and ?regenerating serum? combination ? the company recommends all three be used together ? are available for $57.

Other products that, like Olay, proved ?slightly more effective? than average were Lancome Paris Renergie ($176 for night and day creams) and RoC Retin-Ox+ ($135, also for night/day applications, from www.roc-care.com and www.beautynet1.com).

RESULTS MAY VARY

Reactions to individual products varied significantly. Every cream helped at least some of our testers ? including the ordinary moisturizer we used as a control. With effects so variable and slight, it was hard for women to judge the performance of the wrinkle creams they tested. And their opinions bore no relation to how well the products performed on objective measures made by instruments, dermatologic technicians and trained panelists reviewing photos of subjects? faces.

But every product performed better than average for at least some test subjects and failed completely for others. Given what is known about skin aging (?Each person?s skin has its own unique requirements and responses,? according to a dermatologist we consulted), that?s not surprising.

About all we can say, therefore, is that you might need to try more than one wrinkle cream to find something that works for you.

DOCTORING DOES BETTER

Meanwhile, if you want dramatic, visible changes to your skin, you?re probably going to need products available only from your doctor. Retinoids (the stronger, prescription version of the retinol that?s found in RoC Retin-Ox+) remain the only proven topical prescription remedy for wrinkles. Clinical studies show that retinoids smooth out a few fine lines and wrinkles, but don?t banish them completely, nor do they affect frown lines and other deep wrinkles.

In low concentrations, hydroxy acids are ingredients in some over-the-counter wrinkle creams and home exfoliators. They strip away the top layer of skin cells, so whatever effect they have ends when the cells grow back. Much stronger acids are used in doctors? offices to do chemical peels. As the skin heals, the theory goes, it will grow back smoother and more evenly pigmented.

Bottom line: Whether you seek remedy from an over-the-counter jar or under a doctor?s supervision, don?t expect wrinkles to miraculously disappear.