Prevage®
Smooth Operator 

Antioxidant and Wrinkle Reducer

Proof...not promises!

     Prevage is the new substance of desire, just launched by Allergan, the pharmaceutical company best known as the maker of Botox.  Prevage is not a drug, although it is only available exclusively at dermatologists’ and plastic surgeons’ offices.  The main attraction to Prevage is its main ingredient: idebenone.  Idebenone according to Allergan’s marketing material is “the most potent antioxidant available in the skincare product line today.”

     Antioxidants, including by-now-familiar ingredients like vitamins C and E, are currently all the rage in the realms of medicine, nutrition, and of course, skincare.  There’s science behind the trend:  More and more research is pointing to oxidative cell damage caused by corrosive effect, hundreds of cosmetics already on the market contain antioxidants.  But idebenone, according to the cosmetic chemist behind the Prevage formula, is a different animal; it’s so powerful that it’s used to protect organs from environmental damage during transplant operations and to slow the progress of Alzheimer’s disease.

     The buzz about America’s next super cream began about a year ago, after Pharma Cosmetix Research LLC, the Virginia Company that created the Prevage formula for Allergan, commissioned lab tests that compares the strength of idebenone with that of five other skincare antioxidants.  This research, conducted at the University of California, San Francisco, but not yet published n a peer-reviewed journal, determined that idebenone reduced sunburn cells (skin cells that die from UV exposure) by 38% while the use of tocopherol, a form of vitamin E, resulted in only a 31% reduction.  Idebenone outsourced its peers in several other lab experiments as well.