E'shee means Personal

June 28, 2010

“The Rose Sheet”

E’shee Clinical Esthetic joins an emerging segment within anti-aging cosmeceuticals with its peptidepowered skin-care products that deliver results by activating stem cells in skin.

The Somerville, N.J.-based firm says it is the first personal-care company to use acidic fibroblast growth factor, or FGF-1, a heparin-binding protein involved in tissue repair and wound healing.

Although it characterizes FGF-1 as “stem cell technology,” the company is quick to note online that its products “aren’t about putting embryonic stem cells in a jar and slathering them all over your face. Instead the technology focuses on using polypeptides and enzymes to ‘awaken’ the body’sown reservoir of epidermal stem cells to rejuvenate the skin.”

In a June 22 interview, E’shee founder Nataly Giter acknowledged that “stem cells make some people nervous.” However, “the customer is also more educated now. It is not about taking someone’s and applying them to yourself, it’s about repairing [damage to] your own cells from aging and pollution.” With aging, the function of stem cells in skin repair is less efficient. “If stem cells are not getting signals, there are not repairs,” Giter explained. “FGF-1 delivers the signal to start rejuvenating.” As opposed to Botox and other injectable fillers, “our products trigger the body to do its job. It doesn’t artificially fill the wrinkles,” said Giter.

Giter learned of FGF-1 from Ohio University professor Dr. Ing-Ming Chiu, who was first to clone the human FGF-1 gene. Chiu’s research has explored the growth factor’s use to address neurological damage and broken capillaries, as well as skin. Giter got involved about 10 years ago and started laying the groundwork for a line of skin-care products.

Fibroblast growth factors are signaling molecules that play important roles in the processes of cell proliferation and differentiation. FGF-1 interacts with multiple receptors to not only revitalize the epidermis – as is possible with epidermal growth factor, or EGF, which many cosmetics manufacturers use, according to E’shee – but also to stimulate underlying fibroblast cells that produce collagen, elastin and hyaluronic acid.

According to the company, use of its products that contain FGF-1 makes “skin cells grow 10 to 20 times faster than if using any other skin-care products.”

Firm Offers Six-Ampoule Set

E’shee’s collection consists of six products that sell in spas and physicians’ offices, as well as at EsheeEsthetic.com. The brand promises “wrinklefree skin within 30 days.”

Gene Therapy Serum for Cellular Repair is “the only product on the market that combines hyaluronic acid and FGF-1,” the firm notes. The results are firmer skin with increased volume, disappearance of fine lines and a reduction in deep wrinkles. Giter says the serum also “cuts off healing time by up to 60 percent after plastic surgery.” A 0.34-oz ampoule is $179.

Giter is providing training seminars to physicians and spa technicians on how to use the product, as well as how to use it in combination with other products in the company’s stable.

Gene Therapy Serum for Cellular Repair and Bota Therapy Concentrate Serum ($189) work together to deliver “lifting action” and improve skin quality, Giter said. Bota Therapy awards a nearly 30 percent reduction in the appearance of “dynamic” wrinkles after 30 days of use, decreasing facial lines and wrinkles by up to 68 percent in 45 to 60 days, according to E’shee.

Other offerings include Serum Hydra Gold, which mimics a facial and includes flecks of gold leaf, and Serum Vitalizing “C” which facilitates the transfer of Vitamin C into cells to reduce fine lines, wrinkles, age spots and sagging skin. Each is priced at $119.

Serum Intensive Brightening, also $119, is an “intensive booster treatment” that corrects pigmentations spots and skin discoloration from acne, the firm says. The antioxidant product contains 15 percent L-ascorbic acid and 1.5 percent m-Transexamic Acid.

– Suzanne Blecher (s.blecher@elsevier.com)