Therapeutic herbs confirmed by evidence-based medicine.

Mucocutaneous diseases and conditions, including aging, are known to be the result of multiple pathophysiologic anomalies induced by various environmental insults. Creating therapeutic products for these multifactorial diseases and conditions is challenging. Although safety testing is not required for cosmetics and cosmeceuticals, consumer expectation is for products to be effective and well tolerated while maintaining cosmetic elegance.

A Six-week Low-level Laser Therapy Protocol is Effective for Reducing Waist, Hip, Thigh, and Upper Abdomen Circumference.

Objective: The efficacy of low-level laser therapy for noninvasive body contouring has been previously demonstrated in clinical trials leading to its market clearance. Subjects achieved these beneficial effects following three weekly low-level laser therapy treatments for two weeks. The objective of this study was to determine if the same aesthetic benefit can be achieved following one weekly low-level laser therapy treatment for six weeks.

Superior Efficacy of an Herbal-based Cosmeceutical Compared With Common Prescription and Cosmetic Antiaging Therapies.

Introduction: Research has shown that a disrupted stratum corneum permeability barrier coupled with chronic inflammation induce signs of extrinsic aging (photoaging). An novel herbal-based three product cosmeceutical regimen used to reverse these two anomalies that does not contain retinol, soy, niacinamide, tea, L-ascorbic acid or esters, hydroxy acids, tocopherol, or growth factors was tested in six human clinical trials to determine effectiveness and safety in reversing photoaging.

Materials And Methods: Six randomized split face, double blind, prospective, controlled clinical trials involving a total of 110 subjects compared a cosmeceutical blend of novel herbs in regimens consisting of one to three products to several common antiaging topical treatments.

Blockade of melanin synthesis, activation and distribution pathway by a nonprescription natural regimen is equally effective to a multiple prescription-based therapeutic regimen.

Background: Disorders characterized by cutaneous hyperpigmentation (HP) are among the most common complaints in dermatologists' offices. These patients are also some of the most difficult to treat since current therapeutic regimens have high irritation rates and mediocre efficacy. Moreover, current regimens have the potential to induce post-inflammatory HP (PIH), a secondary disease that is more difficult to treat.

Chronic inflammation is etiology of extrinsic aging.

Skin care regimens using active ingredients that are recommended by physicians who treat mucocutaneous conditions including aging should become more focused on reversing and preventing chronic inflammation. This adjustment of therapeutic and preventive strategies is necessary because chronic inflammation appears strongly linked to many preventable and treatable skin diseases and conditions such as visible skin aging. Mucocutaneous inflammation as the final common pathway of many systemic and mucocutaneous diseases including extrinsic aging has been established at the molecular and cellular levels.

Cosmeceuticals containing herbs: fact, fiction, and future.

Background: Modern medicine is rooted in ethnobotanical traditions using indigenous flora to treat symptoms of human diseases or to improve specific aspects of the body condition. Herbal medicine is now used by over half of the American population. Yet the American medical community generally lacks knowledge of the function, metabolism, interaction, adverse reactions, and preparation of herbal products.

Cosmeceuticals: separating fact from voodoo science.

The number of cosmeceutical companies, products, and ingredients has been exploding since the advent of retinoids and hydroxy acids. The clinical effects of these two classes of compounds proved that nonprescription topically applied products could produce visible improvement in one or more signs of extrinsic aging. Simply mixing any ingredient into a topical formulation and then applying it does not ensure clinical success.