Comprehensive review on cosmeceuticals

Now days a new hot topic in the cosmetic industry is 'Cosmeceuticals', which is the fastest growing segment of the natural personal care industry. Cosmeceuticals are the future generation of skin care. They are the advances made within the world of dermatological products and the new backbone in skincare. All cosmeceuticals claim to contain functional ingredients with either therapeutic, disease-fighting or healing properties. The term Cosmeceutical was coined by Raymond Reed but the concept was further popularized by Dr. Albert Kligman in the late 1970’s. Cosmeceuticals are topically applied as cosmetic- pharmaceutical hybrids, intended to enhance the beauty through ingredients that provide additional health-related function or benefit. That means they are applied topically as cosmetics, but contain ingredients that influence the skin's biological function. Today’s Cosmeceuticals are serving as a bridge between personal care products and pharmaceuticals; also Cosmeceuticals are the fastest growing segment in skin care market. There is no regulatory category for Cosmeceuticals; hence this review tries to understand regulatory scenario as well the difference between drug and cosmetics is enlightened. The paper is an earnest endeavor to evaluate a Cosmeceutical product that claims a beneficial physiologic effect. This review paper is to give recent knowledge about the latest trend of cosmetic industry- Cosmeceuticals.