Study puts new wrinkle in plans for ageless skin
By Beth Teitell
Thursday, May 13, 2004
I've spent years lusting after, and on rare occasions buying, skin creams that necessitate second mortgages. So I should have been overjoyed, and yet it felt as if part of me had died.
``There is no evidence,'' the New England Journal of Medicine reported recently, ``that high-cost (alpha- and beta- hydroxy) creams are more effective than low-cost creams.''
No evidence. The words cut like a knife (although not, unfortunately, a scalpel).
And there was more: ``Many topical or oral products containing vitamins C and E . . . fruit extracts, kinerase, beta carotene and other antioxidants, and green-tea extracts have been promoted for the treatment and prevention of photoaging. Data to support these claims is lacking.''
Data is lacking.
I slumped over.
Sure, the results of the study mean I no longer need to waste my good money, or skulk around the Filene's cosmetics department waiting for a saleswoman to look the other way so I can rush the samples, squirting and smearing as fast as possible before the dreaded ``Can I help you?'' is uttered.
But - I realize now - the pricey creams were my crutch. My ``Curse of the Bambino.'' Hope in a jar.
Sadly, the ramifications of that article, ``Treatment of Photoaging,'' aren't just soul-searing: They're skin-deep.
If this study is accurate, it means my Oil of Olay face looks as good as it's ever going to. Or did - things trend downhill with every passing moment. (I'm already nostalgic for the condition my skin was in when I started writing this column yesterday morning.)
Unless . . . the study is flawed. Yeah, that's it. What could a medical doctor know that the true experts - the white-coated women who work for Clinique, the ``best bets'' experts at the women's magazines - don't?
So how about this? From now on, the NEJM doesn't meddle in us gals' areas of interest, and we'll leave issues like ``Pathophysiology of Diastolic Heart Failure'' and ``Cord-Blood Transplantation in Hurler's Syndrome'' to them.
They can keep their randomized double-blind control groups to themselves, and we'll trust the cover girls to tell us what works best to reduce the appearance of fine lines and aging.
And one more thing. If any NEJM assignment editors are reading this piece, I've got a request: Recently I've started using an overpriced shampoo that I know has improved my hair's luster. Docs, please don't look into it.
