Antiaging Creams: The Ponce de Leon of the 21st Century

In a quest to find youth, similar to the explorers of the sixteenth century, men and women today seek the perfect antiaging creams. Who doesn't want to feel younger, much less look younger? While the health craze is just beginning in the midst of generations of obesity, people want to do more than just feel good: they want to look good. Baby boomers have forever wanted to get their way, and these products promise to give them just what they want: youth forever.

In fact, baby boomers alone have boosted the economy of the skin care market. Scientists are constantly searching for ways to meet the demands of this generation that wants to stay young and refuses to grow old gracefully. Products with salicylic and glycolic acid saturate the aisles of department stores. Goops that promise to erase wrinkles, and potions that vow to plump up sagging skin have found their way into dozens of shopping carts.

Creams that promise to slow down the effects of aging actually also promise to save consumers thousands of dollars. A new generation of plastic people has emerged: those who swear by their monthly collagen injections to plump up lips and cheeks, and their annual microdermabrasion to wipe away wrinkles. This entitled generation often throws around plastic cards like a teenage girl going through her closet. They care little about the financial or physical cost of their treatments but only about the immediate results.

Anti-aging skincare means more than just looking good. It means caring for what a person has for the rest of his life. Obviously our bodies were not created to last more than a lifetime. So seeking out the best products to help them stay as vibrant as possible only makes sense. We are just taking care of what we've been given to care for in a small amount of time.

Dermatology would heartily agree with this theory. Doctors and skin specialists often cringe at the lengths that some individuals will go through to make their skin look younger, instead of just caring for what they have at that time. Their science exists primarily to help people retain healthy skin.

Consider those with lifelong skin diseases, for example, like eczema. Such a chronic rash not only affects a person physically but psychologically, as those who suffer from this debilitating disease will often choose to stay home instead of see others simply because of their shame. Thankfully, the same science that helps people look younger will create a new life for those who have sheltered themselves from the public eye for decades.

Ponce de Leon and his followers ardently sought out the fountain of youth, knowing that their youth had something that they wanted to have forever: beauty and energy. Our scientists can't create a fountain of youth, but their remedies might surprise even guys like Ponce.