GHK-Cu

Measured on: Wrinkle depth and skin density in photoaged skin, profilometry and ultrasound.

The figures everyone repeats trace to two posters from the same 2002 dermatology meeting, not to papers: a facial cream in 71 women over 12 weeks reporting less wrinkle volume and greater skin density, and an eye cream in 41 women over 12 weeks reported against placebo and a vitamin K cream. Neither was ever published in full, so there is no visit schedule, no effect size that can be checked and no statistics to read; they are recirculated through reviews written by the holder of the copper-peptide patent. The third human citation is a 20-person one-month pilot on thigh skin that compared copper-peptide cream against melatonin, vitamin C and retinoic acid creams — active comparators, no vehicle — and reported that procollagen synthesis increased in 70% of volunteers, a responder count on a biopsy marker rather than anything a user sees. The solid GHK-Cu evidence is wound and post-procedure healing, a different outcome in a different population. Nothing peer-reviewed on intact cosmetic skin publishes a timepoint, so there is nothing to date. Be wary of the '31.6% wrinkle reduction at 8 weeks' and '+15% skin density at 12 weeks' numbers on peptide-vendor sites: they correspond to no indexed publication.

Leyden J, Stephens T, Finkey M, Barkovic S. 'Skin Care Benefits of Copper Peptide Containing Eye Creams.' AAD 60th Annual Meeting proceedings, 2002, p.69 (abstract only); Leyden J, Stephens T, Finkey M, Appa Y, Barkovic S. 'Skin Care Benefits of Copper Peptide Containing Facial Cream.' same meeting, p.6 (abstract only); Abdulghani AA et al., J Clin Outcomes Manag 1998;4:136-141 (20-person pilot, thigh skin, active comparators, procollagen histology). Post-procedure context: PMID:16847171 (topical copper tripeptide complex on CO2-laser-resurfaced skin). No randomised controlled trial of topical GHK-Cu on intact skin is indexed in PubMed.