The revolutionary pill that promises to smooth away crow's feet
Stone the crows! British scientists have developed a pill (not pictured) that reduces facial wrinkles
Forget soaking your skin in anti-ageing creams or slathering on expensive serums.
The secret to getting rid of wrinkles could be as simple as popping a pill.
A revolutionary anti-wrinkle tablet which goes on sale today claims to shrink crows feet by up to a third.
And the three-times-a-day capsule is thought to be the first treatment to work on the deepest layers of the skin.
Developed by British scientists, in tests on 480 women it reduced heavy lines around their eyes by up to 30 per cent within 14 weeks.
The pills, which cost 35 for a months supply, contain a blend of food extracts which the researchers say attack the genetic causes of ageing.
As women get older, their oestrogen levels fall and their skin produces less collagen, which is what makes it smooth and elastic.
Most anti-wrinkle creams work on the top layer of the skin, the epidermis, and many have been criticised for being ineffectual.
Dr John Casey, who led the Unilever team which developed the pill, said it worked by activating the genes which produce oestrogen and collagen, reducing wrinkles and sun damage in the deep level of the skin, called the dermis.
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He said: We used ingredients which have been shown in the scientific literature and our own tests to combat the causes of skin ageing and kickstart old skin cells into behaving like young skin cells.
We spent five years testing the ingredients on hundreds of women and found this combination could reduce deep wrinkles within 14 weeks. There is nothing currently on the market which can do that.
Improvement: Dr Casey claims his treatment is even more effect that anti-wrinkle cream
The ingredients are vitamins C and E, isoflavones from soya, lycopene from tomatoes and omega-3 from fish oils, which are all currently sold as food supplements.
In tests in the UK, France and Germany, researchers took 4mm deep biopsies from the skin of 110 of the women. They found those taking the tablet produced significantly more collagen than those who were given a placebo.
On average, crows feet were reduced by 10 per cent, but in some cases they shrank by 30 per cent within three and a half months.
The findings, published in New Scientist magazine, were unveiled at the Society for Investigative Dermatology conference in Atlanta and have been sent to scientific journals for review.
As the food extracts are all in use already they do not need regulatory approval and will be sold in branches of Dove Spa from next month and on the spas website from tomorrow.
Richard Weller, a dermatologist at Edinbu! rgh Roya l Infirmary, said: What matters is the clinical data and they show... reduced wrinkles.
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