Introduction: Cosmeceutical is a term used to describe cosmetics with antiaging effects these days. The aim of the current study was to determine the efficacy of different type of antiaging dermatological products based on consumer self-assessment and to identify those driving factors that influence women’s purchase of these products and to have an insight into their perception and knowledge about these products. Methods: A prospective study was conducted about the use of antiaging cosmetics, consumer satisfaction, skin concerns related with age, importance of younger looking skin and socioeconomic status. Results and Discussion: It was observed in the study that such products do work to improve skin conditions but the claim that wrinkles could be cured completely could not be determined. Participant reported discrepancies between ideal and real effect of antiaging cosmetics. Even if such cosmetic products are expensive people like to spend on these to fulfill the human dream of looking younger.
Aging is an inherent continuous process that normally begins around 25 in the body.
Collagen production slows down and become cross linked and elastin has a bit less spring. Dead skin cells do not shed off and turnover of new skin cells decreases. This natural intrinsic process of aging is trigged with external factors like sun exposure, radiations and toxins, resulting in premature aging of our skin. Other external factors that will add to this premature ageing included our life style (no exercise, drinking or smoking), repetitive facial expressions, gravity and sleeping positions. All these factors together lead to changes in each skin layer which are unfortunately structural. Gradually skin looses elasticity, lines are wrinkles started to appear and skin is sagged.
Cosmeceuticals are cosmetic products with biologically active ingredients having drug-like benefits [
The objectives of this study were to:
1) Evaluate the efficacy of different types of antiaging cosmetics by self-evaluation of the participants before and after the use.
2) Knowledge and perception of women about antiaging products
3) Determine the driving factors that affect choices of antiaging cosmetics.
The antiaging movement is growing in nature that makes this topic very relevant in UAE where beauty sector is experiencing an extraordinary growth. Recent statistics reveals a growth of 12 per cent annually and market value of $1.7 billion, which is expected to exceed $2.1 billion this year [
The research study was a prospective cross-sectional survey. There were 13 closed end questions in the survey. These questions were related to demographic analysis, knowledge and perception, determination of various concerns about aging skin conditions, frequency of use and purchase of antiaging cosmetics, brand preferences, self-analysis of skin condition before and after using antiaging cosmetics and monthly expenditure on antiaging cosmetics and importance of appearance. Study design is summarized in
Total of 100 subjects were planned to enrolled for data collection. Female population in Ras Al khaimah age above 35 years, should be using antiaging cosmetics for at least 2 months, randomly selected, were included. Subjects were required to sign an informed consent prior to study.
Data collection and statistical analysis procedures included a questionnaire. The questionnaire was distributed manually and self-administered or the participant were interviewed. Data were tabulated in excel sheet and analyzed using SPSS 24-Data Analysis Software @ RAKMHSU Library after taking approval of ethical committee.
Each subject completed a questionnaire containing 13 questions evaluating 5
efficacy attributes of antiaging cosmetics and driving factors to purchase antiaging cosmetics, main skin concern with age, duration of use and monthly income and expenditure on antiaging cosmetics. For self-evaluation of fine lines and wrinkles of antiaging cosmetics Fitzpatrick wrinkle scale (clinically validated and originally used for nasaolabial fold wrinkles) was used to quantify the depth of wrinkles while studying the antiaging effects [
Score | Wrinkle Depth | ||
---|---|---|---|
Class | 0 F | No wrinkle. | - |
0.5 F | Very shallow yet visible wrinkle | - | |
I F | Fine wrinkle | Visible wrinkle and slight indentation | |
1.5 F | Visible wrinkle and clear indentation. | 1-mm wrinkle depth | |
2 F | Moderate wrinkle Clearly visible wrinkle | 1- to 2-mm wrinkle depth | |
2.5 F | Prominent and visible wrinkle | More than 2 mm wrinkle depth |
Parameter | Visible pores | Skin hydration | Skin laxity | Evenness of skin tone |
---|---|---|---|---|
Score | ||||
0 | Not visible | Very dry | Very loose | Very uneven tone |
1 | Slight visible | Moderately dry | Moderately firm | Moderately even tone |
2 | Moderately visible | Slightly moisturized | Slightly firm | Slightly even tone |
3 | Obvious pores | Moderately dry | Firm | Even tone |
4 | Maximum visible | Very moisturized | Very firm | Very even tone |
The survey was distributed randomly to about 207 females in total out of which only 150 were using any antiaging products and only 137 responses were considered to be included in the study. The rest of the 13 surveys were rejected due to fact that either were incomplete or incorrectly answered. Participants were asked a series of question about their age, their social economic status, race or ethnicity, nationality etc. Results are summarized in
The participants age ranged between 35 to 60 years. Most of the respondents population consisted of Arabs and non-smoking (68%) females. A small population seems to be familiar with the term “cosmeceutical” or the ingredients used in cosmeceuticals. Many had the believe that with longer use a better result is expected and a good number had shown a positive attitude to go for a cosmetic procedure if topical noninvasive treatment is not enough. Consumers choice indicates that quality is one of the main driving factor to choose a product. Price and brand name has a similar influence on the purchasing behavior. About 15% of the participants were attracted by container shape and advertisements to purchase and 10% of the individuals will choose a specific product depending upon its availability in the market. 9% of the consumers were influenced by recommendations to purchase and only a small number of the population (4%) seems to purchase a product depending upon its ingredients.
33% of the population had a problem of fine line and wrinkles and 13% had rough and dry skin, 18% had a problem of open pores and 11% had age spots and 8% individuals had sagged skin. Importance of suppleness of skin was rated on a Licker scale starting from 5 indicates extremely important and ending at 1 indicating not at all important. Similarly, satisfaction level of the consumer was rated on a Lickert scale starting from 5 indicating extremely satisfied and ending at 1 indication not at all satisfied. Majority of the females agreed that skin is extremely important to them. As it can be seen that 23% of the respondents seems to be satisfied with product and 16% does not find the product useful at all (
From the results it can be seen that women in UAE are really spending a lot of money on skin care cosmetics regardless of their earnings. Out of 137 female participants only 7% is spending less than 100 AED (Arab emirate dirham) on cosmetics and the highest number found to be 43% who are sparing more than 500 AED over cosmetics (
The authors performed the SPSS statistics software for reliability analysis and verified the internal consistency with Cronbach’s α value (0.05). The overall reliability achieved was 0.9065 (
Gender | Age Groups | <5000 AED | 5 - 10,000 AED | 10 - 20,000 AED | >20,000 AED | Grand Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Female | 35 - 40 yr | 13 | 19 | 11 | 4 | 47 |
41 - 45 yr | 1 | 18 | 13 | 1 | 33 | |
46 - 50 yr | 10 | 6 | 5 | 21 | ||
51 - 55 yr | 8 | 8 | 2 | 18 | ||
56 - 60 yr | 8 | 8 |
*Arab emirates dirham.
Sr.No | Question | Alpha |
---|---|---|
1 | Importance of skin | 0.997 |
2 | Satisfaction level of consumer | 0.997 |
3 | Skin condition before the use | 0.855 |
4 | Skin condition after the use | 0.825 |
Validity coeffecient value | Interpretation | Determined value of validity |
---|---|---|
0.35 or above | Very beneficial | 0.385 - 0.387 |
0.21 - 0.35 | Likely to be useful | |
0.11 - 0.20 | Depends | |
Below 0.11 | Unlikely to be useful |
*Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
The survey was distributed randomly to female population age 35 and above which were of different nationalities including Emarati, Syrian, Lebanese, Indian, Pakistani. Aljeerians, English etc but these females were divided into two group either local or expatriates and Arabs (74%) and non-Arab. Majority of the participants were non-national 72 as compared to locals 65 (
As many participants have this belief using the product for longer time would yield a better result so we tested the hypothesis that longer duration means better improvement. The result of ANOVA test declared that the relationship between duration of use and improvement of skin condition is not significant (0.06). This result indicates that respondents with higher age are not satisfied with the effectiveness of the product no matter if they have been using it for long time. 56% also agreed to change the brand if it is not working for them and 67% even considered going mile a head to opt for a cosmetics procedure other than the use of topical products to enhance their appearance. From these responses it can be suggested that generally people were not familiar or interested in the scientific terms used to describe the antiaging products they would rather remember the brand name than scientific terms which perhaps they find difficult
Demographic Parameters | (n = 137) n(%) | Demographic Parameters | (n = 137) n(%) | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Gender | Female | Ethnicity | Arab | 74% |
Non-Arab | 26% | |||
Nationality | ||||
Local | 37% | Smoking | 32% | |
Expatriate | 63% | Non smoking | 68% | |
Age in years | Nationalities | |||
35 - 40 | 37% | Syrian | 40% | |
41 - 45 | 26% | Lebanese | 16% | |
46 - 50 | 17% | Indian | 12% | |
51 - 55 | 14% | Pakistani | 9% | |
56 - 60 | 6% | Aljeerian | 18% | |
English | 5% |
Question | Yes n(%) | No n(%) | Total | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Knowledge | Are you familiar with the term “Cosmeceuticals”. | 12% | 88% | 137 |
Do you know the type of ingredients used in antiaging cosmetics? | 7% | 93% | 137 | |
Perception | Are you using any topical preparation (cream, lotion) for antiaging affect? | 150 (74%) | 54 (26%) | 204 |
Are you satisfied with the brand you are using? | 46% | 54% | 137 | |
Do you think long use of antiaging cosmetics will result in better outcomes? | 72% | 28% | 137 | |
Attitude | Have you considered changing the brand you are using? | (56%) | (44%) | 137 |
Have you ever considered a cosmetic procedure other than using topical preparations? | 67% | 33% | 137 |
to remember. Similarly, a very small number of population is interested to know what ingredients in the antiaging cosmetics had made a difference in the appearance. Their interest lies in the outcomes rather than how they achieved that outcome. 56% of the population is willing to change the brand for the desired outcomes. 44% showed no interest in changing the brand this behavior might be due to brand loyalty. People also believed that better results can be achieved with prolong use but in reality this does not happen for all.
According to Keller, “famous brand names disseminate product benefits and lead to higher recall of advertised benefits than non-famous brand names” [
Over all result showed that women between the age 35 - 40 years are earning between 5000 - 20,000 AED per month and are spending between 250 to 500 AED per month only for antiaging cosmetics and treatments. It is interesting to note that, among our respondents, income was not hugely significant factor in indicating purchase of skin care cosmetics. Furthermore, the age distribution and income status is arranged in the form of PIVOT table (
Wrinkles or fine lines is a skin condition commonly we associate with older age and was seemed to be a greater concern among the respondents. This concern, can be seen from results, is the same for all age groups. Age does not seem to be a significant factor for this skin concern. Age distribution and the skin concerns of respondents can be seen in
The participants assessed over all wrinkles on the face on a scale ranged from 0 to 3 indicating none, mild and severe wrinkles/fine lines. Before the use of antiaging cosmetics 1.4% had rated themselves at 0, 16% had rated themselves at 0.5, 21.1% at 1, 18.2% at 1.5, 15.3% at 2, 13.1% at 2.5 and 14.5% at 3 respectively.
Gender | Age Groups In years | Fine lines/ wrinkles | Uneven skin tone | Age spots | Dark patches | Open pores | Sagged skin | Rough/dry skin | Grand Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Female | 35 - 40 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 19 | |||
41 - 45 | 8 | 3 | 7 | 8 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 37 | |
46 - 50 | 11 | 5 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 32 | |||
51 - 55 | 15 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 2 | 7 | 43 | ||
56 - 60 | 17 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 11 | 39 |
After the use of antiaging products, 4 participants rated themselves at 0, 22 at 0.5, 27 at 1, 37 at 1.5, 11 at 2, 9 at 2.5 and 19 at 3 of the wrinkle scale respectively (
The results for effectiveness of the products to reduce line and wrinkles were not found to be really consistent, although the shift of the subject self-evaluation score before and after the use from a higher level to lower severity can be consi-
dered improvement but the effectiveness of even the best products was found to be limited and results seems to be varying from subject to subject. According to the participants some products did a visual change in wrinkle length or depth for at least few persons and did nothing for others. People did observe a reductions in wrinkle appearance, skin firmness and age spots severity and visibility of open pores the product worked best for slight type of wrinkles or for those who rated themselves on the lower side of the wrinkle scale, and nearly failed to do the “miracles that manufacturers seemed to imply on product labels”. The results does not seem to be consistent because some participants were using these products for more than year but could not see the desired results while others who just used the product for 6 weeks and observed remarkable difference in the condition of their skin. A very likely explanation could be that the stratum corneum is impermeable to molecules with higher molecular weight and many
ingredients used in antiaging cosmetics have a high molecular weight for example vitamin E [
1) The survey took a longer time than expected.
2) It was difficult to persuade people to fill the survey we found that people were hesitant to reveal their age or salary status.
3) There was no placebo group.
4) The results of the survey cannot be generalized.
The current study was a prospective cross-sectional survey. This project was conducted to determine the cosmetics purchasing needs, determine the efficacy of different products, and assess personal expenditure on these cosmetics and knowledge and perception about antiaging cosmetics of female population in Rasal khaimah, UAE. Generally, people are not familiar with term cosmeceuticals which is used to describe cosmetics which contain ingredients with antiaging effect. From the results of the survey it can be seen that the wild claims of beauty industry about their miraculous antiaging cosmetics like skin rejuvenation are not entirely true. In reality these products work for fewer people. No doubt people are able to see the difference before and after use but they could not achieve the desired results like banishing of wrinkles. Respondents had observed that their skin condition improved and it did not worsen with the continuous use but only fewer respondents had actually seen the disappearance of wrinkles or fine lines. Even though this does not change their belief about these products if they are not satisfied about one product they will simply change the brand but never stopped using. Consumers prefer quality products even if they are expensive and promotion does affect consumer’s choice of the product. Females like to spend on skin cosmetics regardless of their income status. Fine line and wrinkles seems to be a major skin concern in all the age groups of participants.
Our sincere thanks to VC, Dean and RAK REC for their support and encouragement. I would like to acknowledge the efforts of Dr. Sarheed and Dr. Ramesh (chairperson) for the development of the survey questionnaire, for my support at every step and encouragement and Dr. Sarheed for statistical analysis and Arabic translation of the survey. Thank you to my dear students, Douha Shouqeer, Maha, Yaseen, who helped in conduction of survey and my colleagues who participated in the survey and gave valuable suggestions.
Shah, F., Sarheed, O. and Ramesh, K.V.R. (2017) A Prospective Study of Knowledge and Perception towards the Efficacy of Anti-Aging Cosmetics among Female Population of Ras Al Khaimah, UAE. Journal of Cosmetics, Dermatological Sciences and Applications, 7, 275-289. https://doi.org/10.4236/jcdsa.2017.73025