Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Olay Professional Pro-X Products Just As Effective As Prescription Retin-A New Study Shows

Olay Professional Pro-X skin care products are just as effective as prescription strength Retin-A (tretinoin)?!

Drugstore as good as prescription??!!

Well, we're certainly scratching our head over the recent news. An 8-week clinical study was conducted by Proctor & Gamble which owns the Olay company. And the British Journal of Dermatology has published the findings.

The trial compared an off-the-shelf brand, Olay Professional Pro-X, to the leading prescription wrinkle regimen, 0.02 percent tretinoin, or retin-A or Renova. The study found Olay Pro-X regimen clinically improved the appearance of facial lines and wrinkles, as well as the prescription regimen in eight weeks. An 8-week, randomized, parallel-group study was conducted in 196 women with moderate to moderately severe periorbital wrinkles.

So, exactly what did the clinical study show:

Of the 196 women participating, the results showed that more than half of the subjects using Olay Professional Pro-X Intensive Wrinkle Protocol (58%) were judged to look better for visible wrinkle reduction compared to subjects using the 0.02 percent tretinoin regimen (41%) after 8 weeks of treatment. Further, the Olay Professional Pro-X regimen reduced visible facial wrinkle size by 17%, compared to 11% by 0.02 percent tretinoin regimen after 8 weeks of treatment.

To be fair, dermatologists would tell you, that Retin-A is a slow mover. It takes quite a while for results to show. The prescription takes 24 weeks to see full results and longer term comparative results may be different. So, that is a key point right there. Remember, the Proctor & Gamble trial was only 8-weeks long.

Another point, Retin-A generally comes in 3 strengths: 0.1%(strongest), 0.05%, and 0.25%.
Still, we find the results in this recent skin study to be quite impressive. Plus, the British Journal of Dermatology is nothing to sneeze at. They are one of the world's leading peer-reviewed medical dermatology journals.

Professional Pro-X is Olay's most expensive skin care line in their large arsenal of anti-aging drugstore products.