How to get original skin care research information

As more people become interested in anti-aging and skin rejuvenation, the number of skin care products and treatments continues to grow at ever increasing pace. The most reliable way to determine which ones are likely to work is to analyze scientific research studies. Aware of the promotional value of scientific evidence, many skin care companies include research data in their advertising campaigns. For example, an ad can say that a new skin cream improves wrinkles by X% and skin elasticity by Y%. Unfortunately, taken out of context, such information is of little use. One cannot rely on the results of a study without knowing the key information about it. This includes the study's size, duration, statistical validity, selection of subjects, measurement methods, affiliation of the researchers, reputation of the journal and so forth.

To help you get in direct contact with skin care research data, we outline here the key reputable sources of skin care research that can provide a good starting point. We also provide a guide to interpreting skin care research. Unless you are a scientist or a physician, we strongly recommend that you read it before plunging into raw research information.

The largest repository of biomedical abstracts (summaries of research articles) is PubMed database, which is a part of National Center for Biotechnology Information. PubMed database contains abstracts from the vast majority of reputable medical journals, including a great many journals covering dermatology, cosmetic surgery and related fields. It is a good place to start browsing research on any given topic in skin care and cosmetic surgery.

Unfortunately, for most research articles, PubMed provides only an abstract. If you are interested in further details of a particular study and cannot find it in PubMed, you can obtain the full text in a medical library or online.

Some full-text articles are available free via Highwire Press or at eScholarship.org; others can be purchased for a fee via Medscape or Blackwell Synergy. More sources of free full-text research articles are appearing all the time. If you cannot find the complete article you are interested in, try pasting its complete title (from the abstract) into google search, you might find it on a site not mentioned here.

If you are interested in the current clinical trials, NIH provides a comprehensive online database at ClinicalTrials.gov.