Male skin care range targets testosterone

Rase recently announced that he is to leave the position he has held for 15 years as president of CS Dermatologie in an effort to concentrate his energy on the new product line that bears his name.

Laboratoires Didier Rase was established in May 2007, with the launch of the first product at the end of last month marketed solely on-line, and initially targeting the Spanish and French markets.

The new product line has been inspired by research carried out by Rase into the skin ageing process of the male skin, which began in 2006.

Male skin is different to female skin as it comprises thicker layers of skin, giving it a different physical make up that requires quite a different approach when it comes to anti-ageing treatments.

In response to this a number of male dedicated skin care lines have started to hit the market in recent years, including mainstream, high-profile offerings that have included the L'Oreal Expert range and the Nivea For Men range.

However, Rase claims the big innovation for his new skin care line is the ingredient Phyto-androzyme, which is the result of the research programme he funded last year.

Rase says that public enemy number one in the male skin ageing process, is a gradual loss of testosterone, which usually begins to have a noticeable effect on the skin in the early 30s.

What happens to the skin is that it relaxes, becomes more sensitive to external forces, takes on a grayish tinge and eventually starts to wrinkle.

Raser says that his hormone-boosting ingredient is based on the principles followed by female hormone replacement therapies, made popular since the 80s to target a variety of age-related conditions in women.

The result of the research is Phyto-androzyme, a magnolia plant extract that targets the depletion of a combination of major processes in the male skin ageing process: Sex Hormone Binding Globulin (SHBG), 5-Alpha-reductase and Aromatase.

The researchers involved in the project claim that the ingredient works through enzymatic inhibition as well as proving to be a decoy for the depletion of SHBG, this in turn helps normalize the amount of bio-available testosterone available to the skin cells.

Clinical tests on the ingredient carried out on 60 males at the Didier Rase institution, showed that by the 28 th day of use there were 'significant changes in terms of cutaneous replenishment, smoother skin and reduction in wrinkles', while after two months of treatment improvement was even more pronounced.

The result of the successful testing ensured a worldwide patent for the Phyto-androzyme ingredient and the launch of a face care line containing five products, a body care line containing 2 products and a shaving and aftershave line containing four products.

Following on from the launch in France and Spain, the on-line campaign is expected to soon be extended to the UK market, with other large European and worldwide markets, including the US and Japan, expected to follow suit.