Millions of wrinkles, billions of dollars

Here’s an interesting article from the Arizona Republic on the growing anti-aging business:

The face of middle age increasingly is smooth and wrinkle-free.
More and more Americans are using an arsenal of cosmetic procedures – eyelid lifts, lasers and skin fillers – to turn back the clock.
This is more than just a vanity play.
The $12 billion-a-year industry is big business for companies such as Medicis Pharmaceutical Corp., which has hitched its growth to selling skin products that make people look and feel younger.
Medicis sells the nation’s most widely used “dermal filler,” Restylane, and has two more anti-wrinkle products on the way.
While the Scottsdale-based maker of skin and acne products sees a lot more room for growth, so does its chief rival, Irvine, Calif.-based Allergan Inc., which makes Botox and recently launched Juvederm, a skin filler that competes with Restylane.
Both companies see dollars in demographics. Fewer than 1 million people now pay for these dermal filler injections that plump up wrinkles to help skin retain its youthful appearance, but more than 25 million American women age 30 and older earn enough money to afford such treatments.

Posted by on March 21st, 2007 at 11:01 am


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