Skinprint.com

A Peptide Structure

A peptide is a protein fragment.  There are literally hundreds of peptides now used in the skin care industry in retail and professional products.  The purpose of these peptides is to "signal" target cells in your skin to start or stop performing some action.  For instance, palmitoyl pentapeptide-3, one of the most popular) signals a fibroblast cell in your skin to start producing more collagen.  This in turn helps with fine lines and wrinkles.  Other peptides signal the skin to make ceramides, barrier repair lipids, elastin and some retard the growth of MMP's which are compounds that degrade collagen and elastin in skin.

Some peptides work well and others do not.  The skin care formula that the peptide is formulated into is the main reason that the peptide will work or not.  The peptide has to get deep into the skin to find the target cell and then "turn it on or off".  If the product formulation doesn't allow for the deep penetration of the peptide then it will not work.

You may have seen some peptides being sold as neuro peptides or "better than botox" peptides.  These peptides are not responsible for the activity that you see from the skin care product making the claim.  For that product to work, the peptide would have to be delivered below the skin, below the fat tissue and into the muscle layer....not happening.  These types of products work due to very good moisturization properties which plump the skin to look like the wrinkles are going away.

Yes, Peptides are for real......most of the time.  Look for the dose (amount in the product), look for the product dleivery system and finally make sure you are not using any other products which could occlude your skin.  This will block the peptide from absorbing and then you have wasted you money.