The elixir of youth?

According to the anti-ageing industry, special cosmetic treatments will get you looking younger on the outside and will even add decades to your life expectancy. But what is the science behind these treatments and do they really work?

At the 9th GP World Con-gress in the Grimadi Forum Monaco, international experts from the field of anti-ageing medicine, dermatology and plastic surgery came together to discuss the latest scientific findings and new techniques in their fields.

Genetics play a role

During the three-day event, speakers debated a question that has occupied people's minds for centuries: ’How can we look better for longer?’

According to Dr Frédéric Braccini, renowned plastic surgeon and specialist in face and neck aesthetic surgery, "how we age is mostly a result of genetics, lifestyle, smoking for example, and things that happen to us like accidents."

To help the face and skin look younger and healthier, German MD Sabine Zenker, tells us that there are cosmetic treatments like automated injectable fillers.

She is one of the first doctors to use an automated injecting device and she says, “the device helps with wrinkles and gives more uniform results with fewer side effects like redness and swelling and less product absorbtion.”

A use for CO2

With life expectancy on the rise, the anti-ageing industry today is thriving more than ever before and is constantly inventing new products to meet the demand.

The more recent the product, the more people want to buy it.Dr Zenker uses the example of carboxy therapy. Small doses of CO2 are injected below the surface of the skin and this helps improve circulation in areas prone to dark circles, cellulite, and stretch marks.

This simple procedure has no risk as it is part of the natural constituent of our being. But does it actually work?The carboxy therapy maintains that when CO2 is injected via a specific tech-nique it is toxic to fat cells.

These burst and are elimi-nated from the body. This has been in development since 1932 and there are studies that date back to this time that prove the method actually works. Interestingly, these studies are largely hidden from the public (due to company confidentiality).

Facial figures

One of the Senior European Beauty Analyst at Mintel explains: "It is very hard to get information regarding what and how much companies spend on their skin care research.”

But facial skincare is one of the leading areas of the beauty industry and is probably the most researched.

L'Oreal Germany said it registered 674 patents (stu-dies) in skincare products in 2009. And at the end of 2010, the face and skin beauty business, took a whopping 6.2 million euros in the five major European markets (Spain, France, Italy, UK and Germany).

AA