By Jerome D. Chao, MD
with Chris Doster

From its ancient origins to modern day physicians and pharmacies,

a true story that just might save your skin...

"The Baby Boomers have spoken...Skin is in!"
 

The baby boomers have spoken – skin is in! 80 million strong and growing by the day, those born between 1946 and 1964 are not aging quietly. Backed by the largest supply of disposable income in history, the "boomers" are kicking and screaming into the golden years, demanding age delaying solutions as they go.

Witness the glut of advertising, infomercials, and media attention focused on lotions, potions, and treatments for "anti-aging". Walk into any high-end department store and observe what greets you at the main entrance; skin care and cosmetics. Profit per square foot rules in the retail world, and demand dictates what consumers see first. Give the people what they want, and they want anything that will slow the ravages of time, the fountain of youth. Marketing experts monitor what is hot, and skin care is not a fad, it is an established trend not expected to end anytime soon.

Worldwide, skin care sales were estimated at 80 billion dollars through 2008.1 Despite the global recession, demand is expected to grow the market beyond 90 billion by 2014.2 Spas, salons, and professional skin care centers are the rage today, much like the fitness center boom of the 1980’s. From facials to hair removal, skin resurfacing to laser procedures, wrinkle creams and "secret" ingredients; it’s a sellers’ market.

The problem; what offers hope, and what is hype? Who do you believe, what do you buy, what really works? Are the claims based on reality and research, or just well produced commercial attempts to separate you from your money?

I have devoted the last 15 years of my professional sales and marketing career representing a variety of medical products, aesthetic devices, and topical skin care solutions. Regardless of product effectiveness, the company or the intent, the common denominator was advertising, sales, and profits. The chief objective was to convince, persuade, and produce. Of course, not all of my experience with most of these corporations was negative or misleading. But buyer beware, what you see is not always what you get.

Notice the abundance of skin care brands available, no different than other industries, from coffee to automobiles. Yet these promises are not better taste, gas mileage or safety, but that your skin will benefit. We all know cars work, coffee picks us up each day, but in skin care, it’s often "show me the money", results aside.

In this day and age of downsizing, corporate layoffs, and economic transition, holding the company line is required. Job security is a thing of our parents or even grandparents, therefore, the executives within an organization today are driven to keep what they have.

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