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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

C For Yourself More Than A Surface Treatment, Topical Vitamin C Heals On A Deeper Level

Kathryn Delong Staff writer

It may not be the fountain of youth, but vitamin C can help some people look younger.

Drinking orange juice every day isn’t going to do it, though. You have to apply it topically.

To understand how vitamin C works, first you need a short course in the structure of the skin, says Dr. William Philip Werschler of the Spokane Dermatology Clinic.

Most cosmetics affect the skin’s top layer, called the epidermis, which itself has a living layer and a dead layer. Products such as Retin A pump up the living area; other products such as glycolic acid “shed the dead stuff,” says Werschler.

Below the epidermis lies the dermis, which is composed of blood vessels, nerves - and collagen, the structural framework of the skin.

Collagen is constantly being built up and broken down. When you’re young, your body tends to make collagen faster than it breaks down. At some point in your life, collagen begins breaking down faster than it is built up, says Werschler.

That’s where vitamin C comes in. “Vitamin C not only increases the production of raw collagen, it helps promote strengthening of the collagen through the process of cross-linking.”

This results in skin that feels firmer and more elastic; it also looks smoother with fewer wrinkles and less blotchy pigmentation.

For this reason, vitamin C has become a hot topic in skin care circles.

But as with so many consumer products, it’s a case of buyer beware.

“There are a slew of products that have vitamin C added,” says Werschler. “The presence of vitamin C does not necessarily indicate that it’s bioactive” and will have the desired effect on the skin.

The key is for the product to get through to the dermis layer of the skin. Dr. Sheldon R. Pinnell, chief of dermatology at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C., “figured out the formulation that carries the vitamin C molecule through the epidermis to the dermis,” says Werschler.

In 1992, Pinnell and his research team patented the formula, called Cellex-C. Werschler says he is not aware of other products that have the same proven capability, though they may exist.

Topical vitamin C is just one more tool in the arsenal against aging, says Dr. Mark G. Rubin, a dermatologist in Beverly Hills, Calif. It doesn’t work for everybody but “when it works, it works significantly,” he says. “It’s definitely not just hype.”

Rubin conducted a pilot study in which 10 patients applied serum C twice a day to their lower eyelids and crow’s-feet areas. Five of the 10 patients had significant improvement in wrinkling. None complained of irritation, burning, redness or peeling, common side-effects of other anti-wrinkle products.

“Ten patients,” Rubin says, “isn’t great science, it’s anecdotal science, but it’s enough to give a gut feel.”

Controlled double-blind scientific studies have not been published that support the anecdotal evidence. The reason is purely economic.

Cosmetics companies are careful about the studies they release to the public as well as the claims they make in their advertising. They don’t make medical claims. Any product that affects living tissue - such as the dermis layer of the skin - would cease being classified as a cosmetic. That’s when “the FDA knocks on your door saying this is a drug and you can’t sell it anymore,” says Werschler. The extensive testing necessary to get FDA approval of a drug runs into the millions.

So who benefits from using topical vitamin C? In Rubin’s experience, “Half of patients get better. Who’s the half? Every patient asks me that,” he says. “There’s no solid pattern.”

Werschler recommends topical vitamin C to patients whose skin shows visible sagging, sun damage, deep lines and folds. He does not advocate the use of vitamin C products for younger people who generally don’t have a collagen deficiency.

However, the age of the skin doesn’t always reflect a person’s chronological age. People in their 50s can have the skin of a 30-year-old, while those in their 20s or 30s can have sun-damaged and otherwise aged skin, he says.

Vitamin C also helps repair the damage of sun exposure. According to a recent Skin Cancer Foundation newsletter, topical use of vitamin C appears to have an anti-cancer benefit, Werschler says.

“I do believe,” he says, that topical vitamin C “is something that has a sound scientific basis with a positive benefit to the skin.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Staff illustration by Warren Huskey

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: GETTING HELP The following are some of the companies that make topical vitamin C products, sold primarily through dermatologists and plastic surgeons. Cellex-C, (800) 423-5592. Jan Marini Skin Research, (800) 347-2223. Biomedic, (800) 66-MEDIC (666-3342). Murad, (800) 33-MURAD (336-8723).

This sidebar appeared with the story: GETTING HELP The following are some of the companies that make topical vitamin C products, sold primarily through dermatologists and plastic surgeons. Cellex-C, (800) 423-5592. Jan Marini Skin Research, (800) 347-2223. Biomedic, (800) 66-MEDIC (666-3342). Murad, (800) 33-MURAD (336-8723).