by Linda Dyett

Introduction

It's a shared fantasy--finding some miracle cream to wipe away the laugh lines, the sallowness, the scattered brown spots that arrive on our faces far too soon--sometimes when we're hardly out of our teens. Why this particular fantasy? Instinctively we know that those seemingly insignificant imperfections are the prelude to aging skin. Hey, we don't expect to look like we're twenty forever. But all of us, whatever our age, wonder what's with all the buzz about cosmeceuticals that can make us look, say, ten years younger. Could it be true?

SELF, a leading health and fitness magazine, decided to check out the claims made by the only cream that's ever been FDA-approved for marketing as a prescription-medication proven to reduce fine wrinkles and discolorations, and to brighten up the skin. Off-white in color and bearing a floral aroma like that of a classic beauty potion, that cream is called RENOVA® (tretinoin emollient cream) 0.05% and it's manufactured by Ortho Dermatological. SELF wanted to see just how far RENOVA could go. The magazine also wanted real-life details about what it's like to use RENOVA. Would it get rid of laugh lines? What about furrows, deep-set wrinkles, and sagging? Would it irritate the skin? How faithfully could RENOVA become a part of a daily pre-bedtime agenda, already booked solid with cleansing, flossing, and maybe Tae-Bo-ing and answering on-line correspondence, too? And would it really give the luminous glow so many were raving about?

In mid-1996, SELF asked then beauty and health writer Linda Dyett to track several New York City area women in their thirties (all of them new to RENOVA, all of them agreeable to getting rid of early wrinkles and brown spots) over a six-month period as they used the cream under a dermatologist's supervision. Once the subjects were chosen, they paid their initial visits to the doctor who agreed to be part of the RENOVA Diaries project--the attentive and avuncular Jerome Shupack, M.D., head of the dermatopharmacology unit at the New York University Medical Center. Linda Dyett was also present, taking notes at all the patient visits, held at the one-month, the three-month, and the six-month marks. Half a year, says Dr. Shupack, "is the length of time it takes to become ‘thoroughly retinized’, that is, having your skin cells tidied up and reorganized" (The term retinized comes from retinoic acid, the key ingredient in RENOVA).

RENOVA (tretinoin emollient cream) 0.05% is the first prescription cream proven to reduce fine lines including crow's-feet, and fade brown spots when used as part of a total skin care regimen that includes your moisturizer and sunscreen. While using RENOVA, patients may experience some redness, itching, dryness, or flaking. This is most often mild, and most common when treatment is started.

When using RENOVA, as with any other anti-aging or skin-care product, patients should limit exposure to the sun and always use a sunscreen. RENOVA has been proven safe and effective in reducing fine wrinkles, fading brown spots, and smoothing surface roughness. It will not repair sun damaged skin, eliminate wrinkles, or reverse the aging process.

RENOVA is a dermal irritant, and the results of continued irritation for greater than 11 months are not known. Its safety and effectiveness in individuals over 50 or in those with moderately or heavily pigmented skin have not been established. Click here for Full U.S. Prescribing Information.

Here are details of two of the women's skin progress, as reported in "The RENOVA Diaries," published in the May, 1997 edition of SELF. The verdict? RENOVA definitely lived up to its claims. After six months, all the testers had a new skin profile. Their complexions were markedly clearer and definitely more luminous. NEXT