Wrinkle Relief

If only we could all have youthful skin forever. Many people invest in expensive anti-wrinkle creams in the hopes of avoiding the telltale signs of aging skin but most of these products will not guarantee to do anything at all. Perhaps that's why when the No7 Protect and Perfect anti-wrinkle serum was recently advocated by a scientist in a television programme in the UK, the product sold out within days. So what exactly causes wrinkles and is there a legitimate way to avoid them?

Too many wrinkles? Many people spend a lot of money on products that claim to reduce the effects of aging skin.

The protein collagen, made by cells in the skin called fibroblasts, seems to be what keeps skin supple and smooth. As we get older, our bodies produce less collagen, causing our skin to crease and to become less elastic. Another protein called fibrillin is involved in forming elastic fibers in skin; it also decreases with age and contributes to skin aging.

But life itself is also responsible for damaging our skin. Exposure to cigarette smoke, pollution and sun all create free radicals - unstable atoms or molecules with unpaired electrons - that speed up the breakdown of collagen in the skin. Ultraviolet light from the sun causes the outer layer of our skin to get thinner and contributes to the overproduction of melanin - the substance that gives skin and hair its natural colour - which can lead to skin cancer. Gravity is even claimed to play its part, pulling down on skin and causing it to sag.

Products that claim to alleviate wrinkles work their magic in different ways. A type of vitamin A called tretinoin is supposed to counteract the damage caused when fibrillin production decreases, but it is only available by prescription. Steve Barton, the scientific advisor for the Boots chain of pharmacies that produced the recently acclaimed anti-wrinkle serum told the Guardian newspaper that the cream had a similar effect if used consistently for four to eight weeks.