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 Looking good in laterlife is your guide to today's anti-ageing technology - to help you sort out what's safe and effective in beating wrinkles and maintaining soft supple skin and a lovely smile. We take it for granted that you're not trying to look as though you're still in you're twenties. Nor do you want cosmetic treatment to carry ANY risks at all. This month
Jane Feinmann looks at:
Anti-ageing creams: What really
works?
The top end of the market for
anti-ageing creams with hi-tech ingredients is massively
expensive. But research shows the cheap stuff may do the job
better
Another year, another wrinkle;
inevitably you wonder how much money you can afford to throw at
the problem you see in the mirror every morning. Youthful,
glowing skin, it seems, has a price tag that can go well into
three figures.
Of course, we all know that the promise of a miracle in a pot of
cream, however expensive, is unrealistic. And recent research
has shown this to be true.
Consumer Reports, the US version of Which? Scientists used a
"high-tech optical device" to monitor changes in wrinkle depth
and skin roughness achieved by 10 of the best-selling
anti-ageing creams on a group of women, aged 30 to 70, over 12
weeks.
The message was unequivocal: you may be worth it, but most
anti-ageing face creams aren't. "Even the best creams reduced
the average depth of wrinkles by less than 10 per cent, a
magnitude of change that was barely visible to the naked eye,"
according to Consumer Reports.
The marginally best performer was one of the cheapest: at £16
for 30ml, Olay Regenerist achieved slightly better results than
its more expensive rivals. The La Prairie Cellular range,
costing up to £229 for a 30ml pot, was among the least
effective, as was StriVectin-SD, costing £67 for a 6oz tube.
Other luxury products such as Lancôme Renergie and Roc Retin-Ox
were also less effective than Olay.
The problem is two fold. First, wrinkles are like scar tissue:
once they're formed, as a result of non-elastic skin being
stretched and then hardening into furrows, they can only be
removed by surgery. Secondly, treatments that really reduce the
appearance of wrinkles are not on sale in beauty counters.
So what does work? Probably the best solution is to go to a
cosmetic clinic staffed by therapists with either a medical or
nursing qualification or the proven skills and expertise to
provide tailored advice that takes account of medical history.
A good aesthetic therapist has patents not customers – ‘healthy
patients but they need just as much individualised attention and
follow-up as people on ordinary drugs,’ says Michelle Irving
director of Cheshire Image Clinic in Chester (
www.cheshireimages.co.uk ). She is a registered nurse and a
member of the steering committee of the Royal College of
Nursing's Aesthetic Nurses' Forum, an organisation set up three
years ago to achieve minimum standards of expertise, training
and safety in cosmetic medicine - and which already has 300
qualified members.
Sally Penfold, education manager of the International Dermal
Institute (www.dermalinstitute.com
), which also trains beauty therapists, says there is little
point in getting anti-ageing treatments without a thorough
examination of the face under a magnifying lamp.
"The therapist needs to know about any dryness, secretions or
rough patches before deciding which creams will help," she says.
"Touching the skin all over the face is the best way to diagnose
problems. Yet a beauty counter assistant with no training has to
make confident a diagnosis by glancing at someone who is often
wearing full make-up."
What’s more, a range of products including Environ, NeoStrata,
Dermalogica and SkinCeuticals are mainly available from cosmetic
clinics. The Environ range contains vitamin A, ‘proven to have
has a corrective effect on the skin, smoothing, softening and
protecting it from the harmful effects of U.V radiation and free
radical damage,’ says skin care professional, Katherine Sen (
www.sivana.org ) who runs a
skin clinic in Harley street and provided on site beauty and
massage therapy during the filming of James Bond, Golden Eye and
Star Wars.
‘Its most important role is to normalise the skin and to promote
the production of healthy collagen and elastin and improve the
skin's natural moisture content, leading to a younger and
healthier looking skin. These products are available in a
variety of strengths, and are available only by trained
therapists following skin diagnosis to ensure the optimum
results for each individual.’
Her advice is to stick to the simplest products if you want to
buy over-the-counter. But an appointment with an expert is a
must for anyone with delicate, sun-damaged or problem skin or
who just wants to make sure their skin is as good as it can be.
View previous editions of Looking Good in laterlife
laterlife interest
The above article is part of the features section of laterlife.com
called
laterlife interest.
laterlife interest
contains a variety of articles of interest for visitors to
laterlife.com written by a number of experienced and new
journalists.
It includes both one off articles and also associated
regular columns of a more specialist nature such as
Healthwise,
Talkback,
Gardener's Diary,
and a beauty section called
Looking good
in later life.
There's also
'It could
be you' by Maggi Stamp laterlife's counsellor on human
relationships.
Also don't forget to take a look at our regular IT
question and answer section called
YoucandoIT
by IT trainer and author Jackie Sherman.
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