Cosmetics companies are cleaning up by marketing stem cell creams for skin rejuvenation for up to US$190 a jar. The promises made to wrinkled women are spectacular. Take the promotional material for Amotokin, the first cab off the rank. "Rather than going under the knife, you may be able to look 20 years younger by applying a ‘stem-cell’ face cream, thus replacing a time-ravaged complexion with your own, new, wrinkle-free skin," Dr Richard Wells, PhD, research scientist, tells Tiffany Stroebel, Beauty Editor of MyFreeDiet.com on Amotokin’s website. Celebrity dermatologist Richard Perricone is selling StimulCell for $155 and Dior has Capture R60/80 XP for $80.

But do these products contain stem cells? Nope. Just alluring promises "for the public’s insatiable appetite for stem cell technology", in the words of the Los Angeles Times. In fact, according to Dr Kenneth Beer, a University of Miami dermatologist, "the notion that you could do that with a cream is a little bit ahead of itself. It’s a great piece of marketing because there is so much interest in stem cells." In fact, these creams do not even contain stem cells, just "stem cell technology" or "stem cell activating properties".

So, for the time being, ladies, shop around for a more traditional, and cheaper, anti-ageing skin cream. Besides, as the LA Times, points out, if these creams stimulate stem cells, couldn’t they also stimulate skin cancers? There’s no evidence that they do, but the makers of Bio-restorative Skin Cream, Neocutis, is taking no chances. It warns people with precancerous lesions not to use the product. ~ LA Times, Apr 21