DHEA Cream Stops Skin Ageing And Prevents Wrinkles
Blog Entry #8
By Admin – Steroidal.com
DHEA or Dehydroepiandrosterone, is a pro-hormone which has been used for decades mainly as part of hormone replacement therapies for both men and women. As well as being administered orally, it can also be put into gels, creams, oils and other topical solutions. L’Oreal researchers in Maturitas, conducted a human study and found that DHEA cream prevents skin from ageing and can reverse some ageing effects after use.
Cosmetic and skin products containing DHEA are not new and have been on the market for a long time, but simple DHEA cream is cheap to buy and you can even make your own. If you want to know how to do this, read the patent literature, like this one (Patent US5989568 A) filed by Olivier de Lacharriere of L’Oreal in 1996. The study referenced at the base of this article was also carried out by De Lacharriere and published in 2008.
The researchers did the study with two groups of women aged between 55 and 70. One group was given placebo containing no DHEA and the other a cream containing 1% DHEA for four months.
After the four months were completed the researchers first found that the number of active sebaceous glands in the DHEA group had increased significantly. Wrinkles around the eyes were measured and had increased by 15% in the group given placebo, whilst the DHEA cream group had no increased at all. The total amount of wrinkled skin around the eyes in the control group increased by 25% as well. The DHEA cream group again remained the same and was unchanged.
According to the first figure below, the skin on the hands of the subjects in the experimental group had become less papery. The second figure shows that the DHEA cream slightly increased the thickness of skin on the face.
“As skin ageing is a multifactorial process in which steroids could be involved, more specifically in women, DHEA could be of interest in the treatment or the prevention of skin ageing”, the researchers conclude. “The present study confirmed the potential of topical DHEA as a treatment for skin aging, as it has been previously observed with oral route treatment. Additional studies are needed to confirm these preliminary findings.”
Side effects associate with DHEA use can be increasing estrogen in both men and women. DHEA is an active hormone in the body and can also contribute to hormonal side effects, such as, acne and gynecomastia in males. One women developed acne in the DHEA cream group, but this disappeared after the study had finished. It should also be noted that L’Oreal, who have a vested interest in skin products sold worldwide and their ingredients, did this study.
Source:
Maturitas. 2008 Feb 20; 59(2): 174-81.
