Safety of Anti-Wrinkle Creams
The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) is the government entity that regulates and approves products that you find on the shelves of your local super market, drug store and discount department store.
Different rules and regulations apply to various categories of products. For example: the rules that applied to the approval of a new prescription medication are very stringent, indeed, while the rules that apply to cosmetics are not stringent at all.
Anti-wrinkle creams are classified as cosmetics so there are few checks and balances applied to their approval for sale to the public.
Because the rules are so lax, there is absolutely no guarantee that an anti-wrinkle product that you buy will actually do what it advertises that it will do.
There isnt even a guarantee that the product does, in fact, contain the ingredients that are listed on the label.
The FDA does, however, seem to keep an eye on the cosmetic industry as a whole.
If a cosmetic product is advertised as a drug then it must be approved by the FDA as a drug which is a long and strenuous task.
The FDA did step in back in 2002 and made companies who produced creams that contained alpha hydroxy acids to put a warning on the labels of those products that stated that the acid in the product might increase the risk of sunburn.
Basically, over-the-counter anti-wrinkle creams are safe for those who wish to use them.
Whether they are effective or not is left to the determination of the user. FDA approval of any cosmetic product should not be considered proof of its effectiveness.
The regulations regarding the safety of cosmetic products are effective. A cosmetic company wouldnt want to produce an unsafe product or one that would cause damage to the users of their products, anyway.
