Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 15, 1995 TAG: 9507110100
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SANDRA FISH KNIGHT-RIDDER/TRIBUNE
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Consider the ``myths'' and ``realities'' in a pamphlet promoting Estee Lauder's ThighZone:
``Myth - No Creme or lotion can reduce the appearance of cellulite; Reality: Not true. Now there is THIGHZONE ... the first ever body streamlining complex from Estee Lauder.''
Or read the convincing copy promoting Elizabeth Arden's Cellulite Very Intensive Beauty Treatment: ``A seemingly weightless transparent gel ... massaged into the skin, gradually breaks down and delivers a multi-effective concentrate. This releases an intensive micro-complex of amino acids, proteins and botanical extracts to help tone, firm and smooth out the look of cellulite.''
And last year, medical researchers said they had tested a cream that smoothed fat off thighs. Using the chemical aminophylline, an asthma drug, they said the cream melted away fat on thighs and tummies.
It sounds like every woman's dream. And so scientific, too.
But what's the bottom line, so to speak, on all these products to slim the thighs?
``Do we have cellulite? If these products worked, would any of us have cellulite?'' asks Paula Begoun, Seattle author of ``Blue Eye Shadow Should be Illegal'' and other consumer books about the cosmetics industry. ``If any of these products worked, they'd be drugs.''
And, she adds, ``If you break up the fat in the skin, where the hell is the fat going?''
The active ingredient in such creams varies, with aminophylline creams the most controversial because the substance is classified as a drug. But such creams are avoiding Food and Drug Administration oversight thus far because the chemical doesn't enter the bloodstream when it is rubbed on the skin.
And at least two more recent studies of such creams dispute the original findings. Conducted by plastic surgeons - who admittedly have an interest in removing fat cells via liposuction - one study indicated no statistically significant differences between those who used thigh cream with the asthma drug and those who used a placebo. The other study indicated the drug wasn't absorbed in the blood.
Dr. Scott Replogle, a plastic surgeon who practices in Louisville, Colo., and Boulder, Colo., doesn't totally discount such creams and advocates more scientific studies. But he has his doubts.
Many plastic surgeons, he says, would ``find it hard to imagine how a surface treatment could really affect such things in a meaningful way. My guess is that somehow whatever's being used is being absorbed into the skin enough to plump it out a little ... to make it look more youthful, just temporarily.''
Then there are less scientific findings. Dr. Diane Kallgren, a Boulder dermatologist, said she and a running partner considered trying the thigh cream when it first came out.
``She did and said, `Don't waste your money,' '' Kallgren recalls. ``I haven't found anyone who's tried it and seen results. If it really worked, I think it would be making bigger news.''
Thigh cream with aminophylline is sold primarily through network marketing - private individuals who try to encourage buyers to become dealers for the product. Lorraine Segala, with Amazon Environmental in Orange County, Calif., started selling thigh cream almost accidentally when it was promoted by a company from which she buys an absorbent for oil spills. She has advertised the thigh cream in women's magazines - it sells for $28 for 8 ounces - but sales have diminished in recent months.
``It's so available in the stores and everywhere now,'' Segala says.
Ingredients in other commercial creams varies - water (purified in some cases) is typically listed first. Other ingredients include horsetail extract, green tea extract, algae extract, collagen, citric acid, heather extract and even caffeine - as well as a variety of chemicals too complex to mention.
``Most of the thigh creams from the department stores contain caffeine,'' Begoun says. ``That's what you're supposed to believe, is that caffeine applied externally on the legs will dissolve fat.''
But the amount of such active ingredients - be it caffeine or aminophylline - is relatively small.
``You wouldn't even get the buzz of a latte from it,'' Begoun says.
So what is a woman who wants thinner thighs to do?
``Some people tend to deposit fat cells in certain areas,'' Kallgren the dermatologist says. ``Unless you remove the cells'' they will continue to collect fat.
Replogle's suggestion: ``I don't know of anything that can change the proportion of the thighs. Muscle toning and good skin care can make your tissues look and feel better.'' And of course, surgical liposuction removes the fat cells.
Segala still uses the cream laced with aminophylline that she sometimes sells.
``I think it does something,'' she says. ``It definitely makes your skin feel soft.''
But as for melting away fat cells, even the saleswoman says, ``If it did that, I'd be thin.''
by CNB