Our Alpha Beta Peels are perfect—and Proven

We know our Alpha Beta Daily Peels are good. Like, really good. But you don’t have to take our word for it (or the word of the literally hundreds of thousands of super satisfied customers around the globe who have purchased Alpha Beta Daily Peels). We were founded by a dermatologist who started as a skin cancer researcher at New York City’s Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and published his findings in multiple peer-reviewed medical journals such as the Journal of Medical Microbiology and the Journal of Experimental Medicine. So we totally get that all the five-star reviews in the world can’t measure up to an independent, double-blind study. Facts are facts, right? And you can’t fake ’em.

So we did what any good, science-based skincare company would do: We submitted our product (specifically our Alpha Beta Extra Strength Daily Peel) to an independent lab and said, Tell us the truth: Does this really work?

Before we get to the results (spoiler alert: This product is amazing!), we want to highlight a couple important aspects of our study protocol that make it unique (among skincare companies, that is):

1. We used an independent, third-party testing facility to run the study and record the results. This means the lab employees don’t work for Dr. Dennis Gross Skincare, nor do they work for any of our retail partners or for anyone else who would have a vested (read: financial) stake in a positive study outcome. 

2. Our study was double-blind, which means neither the participants nor the lab scientists monitoring their progress knew whether the participants were getting treated with our Alpha Beta Extra Strength Daily Peel or with a placebo (in this case, a moistened skin wipe).

Independent, double-blind studies are par for the course in medical research, but in skincare product formulation? Not so much. A. This type of study is expensive and B. No one wants to admit to selling a product that’s proven completely ineffective.

And we didn’t stack the deck, so to speak, by limiting our testing to babies with already perfect skin (as if!). Instead, we conducted our study on men and women between the ages of 18 and 65 and ensured that all six Fitzpatrick skin types were included. (The Fitzpatrick scale classifies skin types by the amount of pigment they contain. There are six skin types total.) And we insisted on using medical-grade methodology, like ultrasound and punch biopsy, to measure improvements.

Some studies rely on the eye of a clinical, human grader to mark progress or the feelings of the participant themselves if they “notice” various improvements. There’s a time and place for these types of inputs, but for this study, we wanted the cold, incontrovertible, hard data that could only come from machine measurements.

The Results

To say we were pleased would be the understatement of the century. We were ecstatic! After 12 weeks, our study participants showed: 

21% mean improvement in skin density

62.5% mean improvement in procollagen production

250% mean improvement in GAGs (we’ll get to what those are in a minute)

42.9% mean improvement in filaggrin (ditto)

Plus:

200% increase from week 1 to week 12 in average clinical improvement in fine lines

190% increase (approximate) from week 2 to week 12 in average clinical improvement in firmness and bounce

20.22% increase from week 4 to week 12 in average clinical improvement in forehead wrinkles

What does it all mean?

You already know our Alpha Beta Extra Strength Daily Peel exfoliates skin – you can tell that immediately after you finish the second step and see the glow in your complexion. What this study demonstrated was that the Daily Peel was also working its magic below the skin’s surface, doing things you can’t see right away.

Namely, stimulating the production of collagen deep within the skin while simultaneously strengthening the skin’s outer moisture barrier. Both processes lead to benefits over time (like the improvements in fine lines, wrinkles, and firmness measured on our study participants).

How are we so sure? Three reasons:

Procollagen is the precursor to collagen. It’s formed by fibroblasts and other cells during the process of collagen synthesis. If you’re making more procollagen, that means you’re going to end up with more actual collagen.

GAGs (short for glycosaminoglycans) are sugar molecules. They have many jobs in the body. The ones we care about here are those in your skin because GAGs are great at holding water. (Perhaps you’ve heard of the most famous GAG, hyaluronic acid?) We make fewer GAGs as we get older, sadly. But the good news is that an increase in GAGs equates to more internal hydration, which leads to a more supported collagen matrix, which results in firmer skin.

Filaggrin is a structural protein that’s essential to the formation and maintenance of the skin barrier. If you’re deficient in filaggrin, your skin barrier is more likely to be compromised, which can mean that all-important moisture escapes and also that things you don’t want getting in (like germs and irritants) can get in.

Our study proved that consistent, daily use of the Dr. Dennis Gross Alpha Beta Extra Strength Daily Peel increases the amount of procollagen, GAGs, and filaggrin in the skin. And that’s a fact.

Method: The in-vivo clinical trials consisted of 52 subjects. Punch biopsies were taken from seven subjects to evaluate specific gene expression and measure skin renewal and skin density changes.

Half of the participants were ages 18-40 with blemish-prone and mild-to-moderately congested skin, and half of the participants were ages 41-65 with mild-to-moderate facial wrinkles and other signs of photoaging. For the younger age group, products were used for 2 weeks with clinical evaluations at baseline, week 1, and week 2 visits.

Facial skin conditions were evaluated by expert grading and bio-instruments for skin elasticity and barrier function. For the older age group, the trial lasted for 3 months with additional monthly assessment visits at weeks 4, 8, and 12.

Ultrasound imaging was taken at baseline and week 12 to evaluate skin density changes. At baseline and week 12 the seven subjects participating in the gene study for each trial underwent punch biopsies and the biopsy samples were analyzed for changes in relevant biomarker expressions.

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