Some thoughts on The Wrinkle Cureand cea connection-Long

March 11, 2002

I was watching PBS on Sunday and stumbled across Dr. Perricone's

special again promoting his book. I usually watch it for a few

minutes here and there if its a part I hadn't seen before. This time

the part I watched talked about topicals and supplements for the

skin. I understand what he is lecturing about really is to delay the

aging process, but a lot of the points he was making seem geared

towards anyone concerned with taking care of their skin (especially

facial skin).

1) One important statement he made that stood out to me was that

when you eat a diet that causes an anti-inflammatory reaction in the

body, the reaction will express itself as redness/ruddiness, so

therefore, do not eat/drink/expose your self to things that will

cause that reaction. When you go to his website and read, you can

see he believes in eating a low-glycemic diet whenever possible. He

also stated when you eat a diet loaded with bad carbs (especially

before bed-like ice cream, sweets, etc.), these carbs promote

swelling/puffiness/edema in the morning-and doing this prevents a

hormone (forgive me-I forget which one) from helping to heal and

regenerate your skin overnight. This is medical/scientific

confirmation for those of us who have found this out by trial and

error.

2) He stated there were 3 supplements that can help heal your skin

and take inflammation away " Vitamin C Ester " , " DMAE Liquid " ,

and " Alpha Lipoic Acid " . These supplements have been discussed here

on the board already, but the reason I am bringing this up is because

during the fund raising break on PBS, they were answering questions

from viewers live, and a viewer asked if there was a difference

between " Vitamin C Ester " and " Ester C " . He emphatically stated " Yes

there is!!!! For your skin you only want to take " Vitamin C Ester " .

So this prompted me to look on the internet to understand the

difference, because I think alot of us on the board are using " Ester

C " , and maybe we are using the wrong one. I couldn't find much but I

found a link to a company that sells (sorry!-but its a start, maybe

someone can find more informational links) the supplements that Dr.

Perricone promotes for healthy skin, and they have an explanation on

the difference here:

http://www.intensivenutrition.com/newinformationonskincare.htm.

So now I am thinking, maybe this is why some of us do not get the

results we expect or hope for, because maybe we are using the wrong

form of Vitamin C. I will definitely be researching this topic some

more.

He did discuss the importance of " Vitamin C Ester " , " DMAE Liquid " ,

and " Alpha Lipoic Acid " at length and why each one was important in

healing skin. He also did mention that when Alpha Lipoic Acid lotion

is applied to the skin, within an hour swelling and puffiness

dramatically reduce.

Here's his site, there's some info to read amongst the items for

sale. I guess his book has all the details.

http://www.thewrinklecure.com/

Well, I just wanted to mention these two points, I might be clutching

at straws, but I definitely think its food for thought; and maybe Dr.

Perricone's research (albeit a good way to make money for himself)

can benefit those who suffer from rosacea.

(I apologize btw, for being too long, and repeating anything here

that you may know already! just wanted to share).

Thanks, Cheryl

March 11, 2002

Perricone is the only derm that sells Vit C Ester.--strange huh? Had a long

talk with my nutrionist at local health store about that.

Second, one site, either skinrx.com or skincarerx. com, stopped handling his

products, specifically the one topical with ALA for redness, the one indicated

for rosacea, citing that they uncovered a number of lies in the way he

manufactures the product. Something about a synthetic chemical he was using in

the product, when he had said it was natural. I cannot remember the details,

but they are listed on one of the above sites. But it must have been pretty

serious for them to stop promoting his products.

Note: forwarded message attached.

MARIE

---------------------------------

March 13, 2002

A few days ago Carol wrote:

> ...the reason I am bringing this up is because

> during the fund raising break on PBS, they were answering questions

> from viewers live, and a viewer asked if there was a difference

> between " Vitamin C Ester " and " Ester C " . He emphatically

> stated " Yes there is!!!! For your skin you only want to

> take " Vitamin C Ester " .

> So this prompted me to look on the internet to understand the

> difference, because I think alot of us on the board are

> using " Ester C " , and maybe we are using the wrong one.

> I couldn't find much but... ...

> now I am thinking, maybe this is why some of us do not get the

> results we expect or hope for, because maybe we are using the wrong

> form of Vitamin C...

I'm a new poster, and as a rosacea sufferer I appreciate this group.

In response to Carol and I believe other posters regarding the

various formulations of Vitamin C in skin care products:

Vitamin C, or ascorbic acid, is comprised of l-ascorbic acid and

d-ascorbic acid. It was shown (at Duke?) that when l-ascorbic acid is

taken up by skin cells a number of favorable things happen, including

increased collagen production and protection against UV damage. I

don't know if these results are universally regarded as relevant or

clinically applicable, but I believe the theory and original research

is considered solid, reproducible work.

One problem is its practical application. Relatively high

concentrations of l-ascorbic acid are needed, which irritates normal

skin -- lower concentrations are gentler to the skin, but

ineffective. Also, l-ascorbic acid in solution is chemically

unstable, becoming useless in a week or two. So skin care companies

couple l-ascorbic acid with various molecules in an attempt to

decrease the skin irritation and increase the shelf life, with

limited success.

Esterification changes an acid molecule into a pH neutral molecule, so

esterification of l-ascorbic acid would be expected to give a more

stable solution with a longer shelf life, that is less irritating to

the skin -- which is good news. The big question is whether skin

cells can re-convert an estered form back into its acid form, and in

high enough concentrations to do any good clinically.

A few skin care companies using this gentler, more stable " esterified

vitamin C " insist that it is as clinically effective as l-ascorbic

acid. There are several chemical formulations of esterified vitamin

C, one of which is trademarked Ester-C and used by several companies.

I don't know which formulation Dr. Perrione uses, whether there is

any significant difference among the various formulations, or -- and

this is the key question -- whether any are clinically effective. I

also don't know if esterified vitamin C is slang for esterified l-

ascorbic acid or includes the useless d-ascorbic acid form as well.

Most skin care companies don't believe any of the esterified forms

have any real clinical effect, so they continue working with l-

ascorbic acid, although not always in the high concentrations

considered effective as based on the original studies.

That's how I understand it. I haven't looked into this controversy

further because it isn't relevant to me professionally (I'm an

emergency physician involved with medical computing) or personally (I

have mild-moderate rosacea, so I instinctively shy away from applying

potentially irritating, collagen-activating products while my skin is

inflamed).

Marjorie Lazoff, MD

March 13, 2002