What Is Idebenone And What Does It Do?
Michelle Muses:
Speak to me, oh Beauty Brains, of “Idebenone” and its supposed anti-aging miracles. A spa in town carries True Cosmetics (www.truecosmetics.com), touted to be the only legal patent holder on this ingredient, but I see Elizabeth Arden is promoting it now. Also, is the similar sounding “idebenal” in any way related? Thanks!
The Right’s Brainy Explanation:
Idebenone has been used for decades as a pharmaceutical “smart drug;” in the US it’s sold without a prescription and classified as a nutritional supplement. Chemically, this material is closely related to CoEnzyme Q10 - a powerful antioxidant which has gained popularity for it’s alleged ability to improve skin wrinkles. Idebenone has found its way into some high end skin care products as the next miracle treatment.
There is some data to suggest that Idebenone may have some efficacy in fighting wrinkels but it’s easily deactivated by contact with oxygen so it must be kept “fresh” or somehow stabilized in the formula if it has any chance of working at all. Just buying a standard skin cream formula that has idebenone thrown in won’t do much for you. And even when it is properly stabilized there aren’t conclusive studies showing its better than other wrinkle treatments on the market. For a detailed discussion on this subject to read this from our friends at smartskincare.com.
What about Trucosmetics? Well, we’re not impressed by the claims on their website. They claim that idebenone has more effective than Q10 and we weren’t able to corroborate that claim anywhere else. We also can’t find any reference to a patent on their website, but if you’ve seen a patent number somewhere pass it on to us and we’ll check it out. We do know that Idebenone has been used for years, so we’re skeptical that there are any significant new patent activity. (Often times patents on cosmetics don’t really mean all that much!)
You also asked about “Idebenal” - that must be a typo. We can’t find any reference to that material at all.
The Brains‘ Bottom Line:
Idebenone is derived from the Latin “I Debit In None” which, loosely translated, means “I’m tired of going into debt for all these cometic products that deliver none of their claims.” Capiche?
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Jen Says:
This is a fabulous write up about Idebenone. I have been reading up about it as well. I recently tried a sample pack of Prevage that they keep stored in very small containers, probably to keep the product stabilized.
Prevage smells terrible! Is the Idebenone that causes that?
thebeautybrains Says:
Probably not. We’d have to see the rest of the ingredients in Prevage to know for sure.
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