Higher Power.(anti-aging skin creams)(Product/service evaluation)

Byline: Mary Rose Almasi PHOTOGRAPHED BY MILES ALDRIDGE

Is it possible to get prescription-like results from a beauty-aisle skin cream? Maybe sowe investigate the issue.

In a windowless room, 49 barefaced women sit quietly as their skin is pinched, poked, and examined by technicians. They're then photographed with a special skin-evaluating camera. It's not exactly a glamorous scene. Nonetheless, this is where beauty products begin.

After this skin harassment, the scientists, who are from Olay, hear the results of the product tests. Gathered in a tight huddle, they whisper excitedly, repeating the words "what if": What if these results hold up? At week 24 of the study, the final data was collected for three of their new Pro-X products, and the numbers suggest that the regimen is comparable to the prescription anti-aging cream Renovacurrently the gold standard for diminishing wrinkles.

Ever since the explosion of creams that hyped themselves as better than Botox (and weren't), skin-care companies have scrambled to rival professional treatments such as microdermabrasion and chemical peels. And now, Olay is among a growing number making products for the beauty aisle that may deliver the power of the prescription counter.

Overall, "we're just scratching the surface of what's going to be possible," says David H. McDaniel, assistant professor of clinical dermatology and plastic surgery at Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, Virginia. "Most active ingredients have never been fully researched to determine their most effective concentrations, or how they may work better with other ingredients. It's starting to be possible to get better skin without a prescription." It could be a new worldor at least a whole new aisleof anti-aging.

Olay Professional Pro-X Age Repair Lotion With SPF 30, Deep Wrinkle Treatment, and Wrinkle Smoothing Cream