The Power of Peptides
Peptides are an important topic in skin care these days due to their ability to restore tone and texture to aging skin. It’s no secret that over time, skin loses its resiliency. This loss of elasticity results in visible fine lines, wrinkles and an uneven surface. To make matters worse, many of us are constantly exposed to external contributors like pollution, stress and the sun which are just as detrimental to the health of our skin as time.

Aging and environmental factors cause our skin to produce less and less collagen. It’s collagen that actually supports the structure of our skin, making it firm and resilient. Peptides (fragments of proteins) have the unique ability to stimulate collagen production, allowing our skin to regain lost vitality and slow the onset of further signs of aging.

Peptides can help strengthen the skin, repair damage, smooth wrinkles, even out skin tone and restore clarity.

Finding the right stuff…

Face-firming Peptides (Tetra and Pentapeptides) boost new collagen production to recondition the outer most layer of the skin. Collagen is a protein that plays an important role when it comes to maintaining a firm, even complexion. Matrixyl, another name for Palmitoyl Pentapeptide-3, is a predominant face-firming peptide... Matrixyl is found in:

Boscia Restorative Amino-3P Firming Treatment	Philosophy When Hope Is Not Enough Serum	Quintessence Q-Strixin Micro-Active Emulsion
Topix Replenix AE Dermal Restructuring Therapy	Photolagen AGF by AminoGenesis	June Jacobs Elastin Collagen Serum

Wrinkle-relaxing Peptides (Hexapeptides) calm the muscle contractions that can cause expression lines and deep furrows. The results are not unlike Botox® injections, but without Botox‘s® side effects. Argireline is another name for Acetyl Hexapeptide-3, a predominant wrinkle-relaxing peptide. Argireline is found in:

Janson Beckett AlphaDerma CE	EmerginC Crease Ease Emulsion	Dr. Michelle Copeland Rewind Eye Formula
Dermelect Empower MP6 Anti Wrinkle Treatment	HydroPeptide Intensive Concentrate Anti-Aging Corrective Creme	BENEV Instant Lifting Serum

Skin Healing Peptides (Copper Peptides) activate the skin’s natural healing systems. The skin repairs itself by eliminating collagen and elastin that’s been damaged over time or by environmental stressors. These peptides may help treat the signs of aging. Copper attaches itself differently to the peptides in each of the following products, but functions similarly:

Neova Antioxidant Therapy Serum by ProCyte	Neova Advanced Perfecting Elixir by ProCyte	June Jacobs Age Defying Copper Complex
Osmotics Blue Copper 5 Face Lift Serum	Osmotics Blue Copper 5 Firming Elasticity Repair	NuFace Collagen Booster with Copper by Carol Cole

Muscle Relaxing Peptides (SYN-AKE®, tripeptide) relax the facial muscles, preventing and correcting laugh lines. This new peptide, as the name suggests, is modeled after snake venom, (the Temple Viper, to be precise) but without the paralyzing effects. SYN-AKE® peptide is often powerfully combined with others, as it is in the following products:

Evolution Skin Therapy DeCrease Deep Wrinkle Smooth Cream	Peter Thomas Roth UnWrinkle Eye	Peter Thomas Roth UnWrinkle	Peter Thomas Roth UnWrinkle Night Cream