Reflections on Beauty

Remember the Pepsi Challenge from back in the mid-70’s? Random folks were supposedly tested at local grocery stores drinking unmarked cans of soda, one of which was Pepsi and one of which was Coke. Those Coke-lovers who were surprised by their preference for Pepsi were shown in smiling, refreshed amazement after having learned that Pepsi, after all, was the better of the two. Unfortunately, this didn’t make Pepsi the #1 soda. To this day, it’s a close second behind Coke.

Botox’s competitor, Dysport, was approved by the FDA approximately a year ago. To date, Dysport has taken only 10% of Botox’s mighty market share. In hopes of reversing that trend, Medicis, the makers of Dysport, created The Dysport Challenge—big discounts on Dysport to get consumers to try it. Anyone who tries Dysport but still prefers Botox will get $75 towards their next treatment of Botox. This is, however, offered only where practices already offer Dysport, and few do.

As evidence of their initial fear that Dysport would take big chunks of their cosmetic market, Allergan began pushing Botox into consumer awareness as a treatment for migraines and sweating over the past year or so. In fact, although such off-label uses for Botox aren’t technically approved by the FDA, they account for over 50% of the drug’s annual revenue.

In our practice, Dysport hasn’t taken off. It offers little in the way of unique clinical benefits, it costs about the same as Botox and both our physicians and our patients like Botox. We’re not offering the promo because it’s a bit confusing to understand and unless there’s a compelling clinical reason (such as the rare instance of a patient being immune to the effects of Botox) or they ask for it, we’ll continue to use Botox because of its proven results.

Is it possible that a chemotherapy drug could be another wrinkle-fighter? Although it’s too soon to tell for certain, a researcher from the University of Michigan seems to think it may be true based on a small study of 21 adults between the ages of 56 and 85.

Fluorouracil, also known as 5-FU, is a chemotherapy agent used to fight colon and pancreatic cancers. Sold under the brand names Efudex, Carac or Fluoroplex, the cream version of Fluorouracil is used to treat age-related keratoses in the skin as well as basal cell skin cancers.

In the study at UM, dermatologists found that patients had a reduction in both fine and coarse wrinkles within only two weeks of applying Fluorouracil cream to their skin twice a day.

Before Fluorouracil can be routinely used as an anti-wrinkling agent, further FDA testing will be necessary. For now, your best bet to fight dynamic wrinkles and lines remains Botox or the newly-released Dysport, both of which are available in our office. We at Reflections are always eager to offer new products to our patients once they’ve been proven both safe and effective, so we’ll be keeping on eye out for future Fluorouracil studies.