BACKGROUND

Plump, firm lips are one of the de rigueur fashion accessories of the moment. This trend exists not only in aging populations but also among an increasingly younger demographic. Today, consumers expect to be able to obtain cosmetic surgery-type effects from topical cosmetics. In order to achieve this, we need to look at the injectable preparations available to medical professionals.

Perhaps the most commonly used products are either purified collagen or reconstituted Human Tissue Matrix (HTM) to augment the naturally occurring lip tissue. The question becomes how does one best deliver collagen into the lips? Most lip preparations are lipid-based, eliminating the possibility of traditional systems such as liposomes. Due to the absence of follicles on the lips themselves, solid particulate delivery systems are inefficient.

SCIENCE

In order to overcome these problems, MVS Lips was developed, a self-assembling micro-scale delivery system. The phospholipids are dispersed in a biomimetic fractionated Soybean extract that enables the product to be easily incorporated in to the lipophilic environment of a traditional lip product. However upon application to the lips, the phospholipids naturally seek to migrate to the more hydrophilic environment of the lip’s interior. When in the hydrophilic environment the phospholipids naturally assemble into a multivesicular system that swells to give the lips the appearance of increased volume.

BENEFITS

Licorice root extract has been shown to increase the rate of wound healing, which directly involves the generation of new collagen fibrils. The rationale for the incorporation into MVS Lips is to induce the generation of new collagen, supplementing the collagen already present in the lips, naturally complementing the function of the self-assembling vesicles.

References

1) Z, Draelos. et al. 2012. Clinics in Dermatology. New Treatments for restoring impaired epidermal barrier permeability: Skin barrier repair creams. 30(3): 345-348

2) S, Mukherjee. et al. 2010. Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology. Original Contribution: Stearic acid delivery to corneum from a mild and moisturizing cleanser. 9(3): 202-210