Cosmeceuticals versus pharmaceuticals

Four major categories of interest in the cosmeceutical market are nonbleaching agents, antioxidants, peptides, and growth factors. The trend toward introducing natural products considered to be safe is influenced by media hype and consumer interest. This is driving the cosmeceutical market to develop safer products that are naturally derived. Some of these naturally derived products have proven to be helpful, whereas more evidence is needed for other products before physicians can consider recommending their use.     

Cosmeceuticals: undefined, unclassified, and unregulated

The cosmeceutical category is an undefined, unclassified, and unregulated area of dermatology that is yet in its infancy. Traditional cosmeceuticals involve the topical application of biologically active ingredients that affect the skin barrier and overall skin health. The ability of these ingredients to enhance skin functioning depends on how they are formulated into products that can maintain the integrity of the active ingredient, deliver it in a biologically active form to the skin, reach the target site in sufficient quantity to exert an effect, and properly release from the carrier vehicle. In the United States, cosmeceuticals are sold as cosmetics, making marketing, packaging, and aesthetic appeal important considerations. Ideally, the cosmeceutical should be clinically tested for efficacy to ensure a proven skin benefit and also to substantiate marketing claims. Governmental limitations of efficacy claims restrict cosmeceutical development because products can only be assessed in terms of their ability to improve skin appearance but not function. Improving function would remove the cosmeceutical from the cosmetic category and place it in the drug category. Herein lies the challenge of defining the cosmeceutical category.     

Cosmeceuticals vitamins

The term cosmeceutical was created over 25 years ago to define products with active substances that cannot be considered cosmetics or drugs. Cosmeceuticals are increasingly popular, with sales representing one of the largest growing segments of the skin care market. These products are found in many forms, including vitamins, peptides, growth factors, and botanical extracts. Cosmeceuticals that contain topically applied vitamins have an increasing role in skin care.     

Efficacy and safety of innovative cosmeceuticals

The research and development of cosmeceuticals is booming in recent years. Many substances, either from botanical, animal, or chemically synthesized sources, are tested or investigated as the active ingredients in cosmeceuticals. The interactions between cosmeceuticals and skin are complex, depending on the specific composites in cosmeceutical products, condition of the skin or general health status of a subject, and the environment where the action occurs. As such, careful preclinical or clinical evaluation of efficacy and safety is a prerequisite for the development of a specific cosmeceutical product. This article reviews some of the ingredients that are currently in use or might be potential candidates in cosmeceuticals of different categories.     

Clinical and cosmeceutical uses of hydroxyacids

The hydroxyacids are represented by the α-hydroxyacids, β-hydroxyacids, polyhydroxy acids, and bionic acids. Together, these ingredients form a class of compounds with unparalleled benefits to the skin and unprecedented usage in the cosmeceutical market in cosmetic and therapeutic formulations alike. The most commonly used hydroxyacid is glycolic acid, an α-hydroxyacid that has been used extensively in cosmetic antiaging formulations, moisturizers, and peels, and in treatment products to improve hyperpigmentation and acne. The newer polyhydroxy and bionic acids offer the benefits of α-hydroxyacids without irritation, making them suitable for use on sensitive skin, rosacea, and after cosmetic procedures. They also provide additional antioxidant/chelation, barrier strengthening, and moisturizing effects. Bionic acids inhibit matrix metalloproteinase enzymes in skin, providing a preventative antiaging benefit. The hydroxyacids as a class can be combined with therapeutically active materials and cosmetic procedures to increase therapeutic effects and improve tolerability and outcomes of medicinal agents and procedures.     

Fifty years of research and development of cosmeceuticals: a contemporary review

Facial rejuvenation can be categorized into skincare and facial contouring. Research and development of cosmeceuticals is aimed at addressing the major signs of photoaging: wrinkles, dyschromia, and sallowness. Assessment of photoaging comes in clinical and photographic forms; a photonumeric scale developed by Griffiths et al. has been assured of its validity and reliability for the assessment of severity of photoaging in qualitative studies. Treatment of photoaging comes in two categories: preventive and reversal of signs; whilst sunfactors are the most efficient and essential in preventing photodamage, research and development of cosmeceuticals for facial rejuvenation has been robust, thanks to several landmark studies in the last fifty years, funded by some of the forerunners in contemporary cosmetic industry. Stem cell research remains the current forerunner in research concerning cosmeceuticals. Nevertheless, high‐quality, randomized control trials remain scarce within the contemporary literature, and more research and trials without funding by the industry are required to give rise to impartial comparisons between various cosmeceutical products. The “perfect cream” for facial rejuvenation remains elusive.     

Cosmeceuticals and active ingredients

Cosmetic ingredients previously considered “inert” have potential to provide a biologic effect to skin. In a cosmeceutical formulation, the boundary between an “active” and “inert” ingredient may be obscured. For this reason, the cosmeceutical distributor must find a nonambiguous method to demonstrate the efficacy of a new ingredient. For a product to be successful in the marketplace, the benefits of the product must clearly be communicated to the consumer, and the consumer must be satisfied with product performance.     

Novel nanotechnological approaches for treatment of skin-aging

One of the essential organs and protective barricades, the skin, needs to be taken care of early. Skin is affected by several intrinsic and extrinsic factors, and despite their morphological and pathological differences, they have many molecular similarities. As of today, various mechanisms and theories have been recommended for aging, such as cellular anility, reduced proliferative tendency, reduction in length of telomere, mutations in DNA, theory of free radical generation, and many others. In today's society, skin health is often considered an important indicator of health, which has led to an increased demand for anti-aging products. However, numerous conventional cosmetics and phytocompounds (curcumin, Vitamin E, resveratrol) utilized in anti-aging products have inimical physical and chemical attributes, including insufficient chemical stability and inadequate skin penetration bound their effectuality after topical administration. So recently, new novel nanotechnological approaches for preventing skin aging, such as liposomes, niosomes, solid lipid nanoparticles, transferosomes, ethosomes, nanostructured lipid carriers, and carbon nanotubes, are being used. Hence, the field of cosmeceutical nanomaterials is rapidly evolving, and we can look forward to seeing a variety of innovative nanotechnology-based cosmetic products be a game-changer for this multi-million anti-aging cosmetic industry.     

Top 10 botanical ingredients in 2010 anti-aging creams

New developments in the realm of skin rejuvenation such as phytotherapy are at an astounding increasing pace in the cosmeceutical market. Yet, many of these products that are classified as cosmeceuticals are tested less vigorously and do not have to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration to establish efficacy and safety. Thus, as clinicians, we must ask the question, “Is there science‐based evidence to validate the mechanism of these new treatments?” We assessed the top anti‐aging creams currently on the market specifically evaluating their botanical ingredients. Some of the most common botanicals that are hot off the market are: Rosmarinus officinalis, Vitis vinifera (grape seed extract), Citronellol, Limonene, Oenothera biennis (evening primrose), Glycyrrhiza glabra (licorice extract), Aframomum angustifolium seed extract, Diosgenin (wild yam), N6 furfuryladenine (kinetin), and Ergothioneine. Through researching each of these botanical ingredients, we have concluded that randomized controlled trials are still needed in this area, but there is promise in some of these ingredients and science to validate them.     

LC–MS profiling-based non-targeted secondary metabolite screening for deciphering cosmeceutical potential of Malaysian algae

Background

Application of natural resources from the marine environment in the cosmeceutical industry is gaining great attention.

Aim

This study pursues to discover the cosmeceutical potential of two Malaysian algae, Sargassum sp. and Kappaphycus sp. by determining their antioxidant capacity and assessing the presence of their secondary metabolites with cosmeceutical potential using non-targeted metabolite profiling.

Methods

Metabolite profiling using Quadrupole Time-of-Flight (Q-TOF) liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC–MS) in the Electrospray Ionization (ESI) mode resulted in 110 putative metabolites in Sargassum sp. and 47 putative metabolites in Kappaphycus sp. and were grouped according to their functions. To the best of our knowledge, the bioactive compounds of both algae have not been studied in any great detail. This is the first report to explore their cosmeceutical potential.

Results

Six antioxidants were detected in Sargassum sp., including fucoxanthin, (3S, 4R, 3'R)-4-Hydroxyalloxanthin, enzacamene N-stearoyl valine, 2-hydroxy-hexadecanoic acid, and metalloporphyrins. Meanwhile, three antioxidants detected in Kappahycus sp., namely Tanacetol A, 2-fluoro palmitic acid and idebenone metabolites. Three antioxidants are found in both algae species, namely, 3-tert-Butyl-5-methylcatechol, (−)-isoamijiol, and (6S)-dehydrovomifoliol. Anti-inflammatory metabolites such as 5(R)-HETE, protoverine, phytosphingosine, 4,5-Leukotriene-A4, and 5Z-octadecenoic acid were also found in both species. Sargassum sp. possesses higher antioxidant capacity as compared to Kappahycus sp. which may be linked to its number of antioxidant compounds found through LC–MS.

Conclusions

Hence, our results conclude that Malaysian Sargassum sp. and Kappaphycus sp. are potential natural cosmeceutical ingredients as we aim to produce algae cosmeceutical products using native algae.     

Microneedle applications in improving skin appearance

Microneedles (MNs) are micron‐sized, minimally invasive devices that breach the outermost layer of the skin, the stratum corneum (SC), creating transient, aqueous pores in the skin and facilitating the transport of therapeutic molecules into the epidermis. Following many years of extensive research in the area of MN‐mediated trans‐ and intra‐dermal drug delivery, MNs are now being exploited in the cosmeceutical industry as a means of disrupting skin cell architecture, inducing elastin and collagen expression and deposition. They are also being used as vehicles to deliver cosmeceutic molecules across the skin, in addition to their use in combinatorial treatments with topical agents or light sources. This review explores the chronology of microneedling methodologies, which has led to the emergence of MN devices, now extensively used in cosmeceutical applications. Recent developments in therapeutic molecule and peptide delivery to the skin via MN platforms are addressed and some commercially available MN devices are described. Important safety and regulatory considerations relating to MN usage are addressed, as are studies relating to public perception of MN, as these will undoubtedly influence the acceptance of MN products as they progress towards commercialisation.     

The use of cosmeceutical moisturizers

Cosmetic products are not regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). They do not require testing or approval, as they are not considered to have any biologic activity. Drugs, on the other hand, are subject to extensive testing required by the FDA before their approval and entrance into the marketplace. For this reason many cosmetic companies avoid testing the ingredients in their products or avoid making public the results of these studies. The drug versus cosmetic controversy has presented the need for a new category in order to allow the necessary testing of the products our patients use, at the same time protecting the interests of the cosmetic companies. These products are commonly known as cosmeceuticals . This article is intended to isolate the ingredients most commonly found in cosmeceutical moisturizers and explain what facts are actually known about these agents including retinol, antioxidants, green tea, soy, and α-hydroxy acids.     

Whitening and moisturizing enhancing effects of three-dimensional human adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cell-conditioned medium-containing cream

Background

High-functional cosmetic products combined with the concept of “treatment” cosmetics are being introduced to the market. Cosmetic products containing a skin-derived microbiome, a three-dimensional (3D) stem cell culture medium, and low-molecular-weight collagen are being introduced, and these products are leading the cosmeceutical market. We aimed to confirm the potential of a 3D stem cell culture medium-containing cream as a skin-whitening and moisturizing product.

Aim

To determine the enhancing effects of a cream containing 3D adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cell-conditioned media (3D ADMSC-CM) on whitening and moisturization.

Methods

The inhibitory activities of tyrosinase (TYR) and melanin were confirmed using 3D ADMSC-CM. Furthermore, hyaluronic acid expression in 3D ADMSC-CM was verified. The clinical efficacy of the cream containing 3D ADMSC-CM was established by evaluating its antioxidant properties and effects on skin tone, radiance, freckles, and moisturization.

Results

The use of 3D ADMSC-CM suppressed the inhibitory effects of TYR and melanin by approximately 24% and 33%, respectively, and increased the expression of hyaluronic acid synthase. A significant difference was observed after 4 weeks of using 3D ADMSC-CM in the skin antioxidant evaluation. After 2 and 4 weeks of use, skin tone and radiance increased and skin freckles decreased significantly. Under extremely cold and dry weather conditions, the use of the cream increased skin moisturization.

Conclusions

The 3D ADMSC-CM cream evaluated in an environment similar to the human body was found to enhance skin whitening and moisturization and can therefore be used in the skin care and cosmetic industries as a biocosmetic product.     

Cosmeceuticals: myths and misconceptions

Cosmeceuticals, or physiologically active cosmetics, are subject to many misconceptions. Most consumers mistakenly believe that cosmeceuticals are regulated and tested as drugs. They also believe that the ingredients and final products have been tested for safety and that the claims made in advertisements are valid. Although cosmeceuticals and pharmaceutical ingredients have never been closer together, their regulatory environments are vastly different due to the distinct Congressional mandates given the Food and Drug Administration. Physicians are in a good position to help patients and potential cosmeceutical users understand the benefits and realistic limitations of these products.     

The cosmeceutical realm

The cosmeceutical realm is composed of functional cosmetics designed to adorn face and body without changing the structure of the human form. Although this may seems confusing, indeed cosmeceuticals have never been well defined. Cosmeceuticals developed for facial application typically claim to induce more even skin tone, improve skin texture, increase skin radiance, decrease the appearance of skin wrinkling, and provide antiaging benefits. Nondrug active ingredients are usually incorporated into moisturizing vehicles designed to accomplish the aforementioned claims. There is no doubt that cosmeceuticals represent the most rapidly expanding frontier in dermatology.     

Common cosmeceuticals

In the cosmetic arena, many materials are used commercially and claim to provide skin effects (eg, antiaging effects) when used topically. Considering there are so many such materials and many skin appearance effects are encompassed, this short contribution must, by necessity, be selective in terms of the number of materials discussed and the depth with which any particular material is overviewed. This presentation, therefore, focuses on only 10 types of cosmeceutical agents: five vitamins (A, B₃, C, E, panthenol), peptides, hydroxyl acids, sugar amines, ceramides, and metals. In particular, this contribution concentrates on those materials for which there are available clinical data that support a reported skin appearance improvement effect.     

Cosmeceutical potential of geranium and calendula essential oil: Determination of antioxidant activity and in vitro sun protection factor

The present investigation was aimed to find out the sun protection factor (SPF) and antioxidant potential of geranium essential oil (GEO) and calendula essential oil (CEO) because having a combination of these two properties moves up the oils as an active ingredient of various cosmeceutical formulations for their preventive and protective properties. Essential oils were obtained by hydrodistillation of Pelargonium graveolens leaves (GEO) and Calendula officinalis flowers (CEO). The composition and identification of chemical constituents of oils were determined by GCMS analysis. Free radical scavenging activity was measured by nitric oxide scavenging activity and 1,1‐diphenyl‐2‐picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity. It was observed that both GEO and CEO have the potential to reduce or prevent oxidative stress and can be used in skin care regimen to slow down skin aging via its antioxidant properties. In vitro SPF was determined by a very simple and rapid spectroscopic method. SPF value of GEO and CEO was found to 6.45 and 8.36, respectively. The SPF of CEO was higher than GEO, and the results of SPF show that these essential oils can be employed in sunscreen formulations to protect the skin from sunburn. From the results, it can be concluded that the combined antioxidant and SPF property of GEO and CEO can provide synergistic photoprotective effect or lift up the additional value of the cosmeceutical formulation.     

The latest cosmeceutical approaches for anti‐aging

Background Cosmeceuticals provide a new therapeutic frontier for anti‐aging in dermatology. The most dramatic signs of cutaneous aging include the lack of skin surface regularity, the formation of rhagades, and the increased presence of dyspigmentation. Background The objective of this review is to illustrate how these three needs of maturing skin can be met by novel ingredients incorporated into carefully constructed formulations designed to deliver scientifically measurable and visibly noticeable improvement. Conclusion Skin surface irregularity can be improved through increased skin turnover facilitated by topical niacinamide, while the appearance of fine lines can be diminished through the application of moisturizers containing engineered peptides and over‐the‐counter retinoids, such as retinyl propionate. Finally, skin pigmentation can become more regular with the topical application of N‐acetyl glucosamine and ultraviolet A photoprotective ingredients. Furthermore, combining cosmeceutical ingredients in a moisturizing vehicle can magnify benefits and profoundly improve skin appearance.