Olay Professional Pro-X Performs On Par With Top Rx Brand, At Half The Price?

Procter & Gamble is going after consumers who demand a bang for their buck with its wrinkle-targeting Olay Professional Pro-X line, which it claims offers Rx results at a much-reduced price.

The "professionally designed" skin-care range is "proven to be as effective as the leading anti-aging prescription brand indicated for reducing the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles - for half the price, when you include the cost of one dermatology visit," the firm says in its March 5 release.

Olay Professional Pro-X demonstrated its worth in a clinical trial in which a representative product regimen was used by 196 women for eight weeks, while a 50-woman cohort continued use out to six months.

Expert visual grading analysis and objective computer imaging analysis of high-resolution digital images before and after treatment were used to confirm that both groups experienced "significant and noticeable" effects, P&G says.

The product was shown to reduce wrinkles as effectively as the leading prescription anti-aging brand - a 0.02 percent tretinoin in an emollient base, P&G says.

Renova from OrthoNeutrogena is a 0.02 percent tretinoin cream.

P&G notes that the prescription product takes 24 weeks to deliver full results, "so larger-base, longer-term comparative results may be different."

Olay Professional Pro-X was designed based on P&G's research on "how skin-related genes function, interact with one another and, more importantly, respond to aging and environmental stress at the molecular level."

By identifying bio-chemical pathways that behave differently in younger and older skin - and building gene profiles specific to each - the firm claims it has been able to customize its skin-care formulations to achieve desired effects.

Having learned that a healthy, strong stratum corneum moisture barrier is central to "maximum inner skin performance," P&G scientists concocted formulations "that have great potential to strengthen the stratum corneum in aged skin," the firm says.

The project was supported by the Olay Professional Alliance for Skin Care Innovation, which connects P&G researchers with renowned dermatologists around the globe, according to the release.

At the company's Web site for the line it guarantees "clinically proven younger-looking, younger-acting skin in 28 days."

Olay Professional Pro-X consists of six products - three primary solutions for use on the entire face and three specialized treatments. All are available now for a suggested retail price of $42 apiece.

The first stable is made up of Age Repair Lotion with SPF 30, which guards against UVA/UVB exposure and "boosts antioxidant power at skin's surface," together with Wrinkle Smoothing Cream and Hydra Firming Cream.

Among the specialized treatments is Deep Wrinkle Treatment, which "penetrates deep into skin's surface, combating the appearance of wrinkles and intensely hydrating to allow the natural production of collagen," P&G says.

Eye Restoration Complex targets dark eye circles, puffiness and crow's feet. "Massage reduces excess undereye fluids to reduce dark circles and puffiness," the firm notes.

Discoloration rounds out the "specialized" cluster. It helps fade age spots and brown spots that come with age, hydrating to "gradually repair the look of discoloration deep within skin's surface."

In the cited clinical study, women were assigned to an Olay Professional Pro-X Intensive Wrinkle Protocol consisting of nighttime usage of Wrinkle Smoothing Cream and Deep Wrinkle Treatment, and morning usage of the Deep Wrinkle Treatment and Age Repair Lotion with SPF 30.

An Anti-Aging Starter Protocol is available where Olay products are sold; it is priced at $62.

- Ryan Nelson ([email protected])