Instant face-lifts ‘kill your skin cells’

A CHEMICAL used in cosmetic products promising an “instant face-lift” makes wrinkles disappear by damaging skin cells, Canadian researchers report.

“From our point of view the cells are altered. They stop dividing, they stop secreting, and after 24 hours a certain proportion of them die,” said Dr Francois Marceau of the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Quebec.

Dr Marceau, a cell biologist, said he was reluctant to recommend that these products not be used. However, the findings made it clear that more research was needed on how these and similar products work.