Hollywood celebrities often go to great lengths to maintain a youthful appearance. From Botox to fillers to a facelift, celebrities are willing to do almost anything to rejuvenate their appearance. One of the latest facial techniques being used to keep a youthful look to the face involves the use of the foreskin. While this might sound X-rated to the average person, the procedure known as the “penis facial” is not as erotic as it sounds.
During an appearance on the talk show hosted by Ellen DeGeneres, Sandra Bullock revealed that she and Cate Blanchett are fans of the treatment they have nicknamed the “penis facial”. The treatment involves the use of epidermal growth factors (EGF) that are derived from stem cells taken from the discarded foreskins of newborn babies in Korea. EGF is used by doctors because it helps to rejuvenate the skin by reducing discoloration and improving the skin texture of a patient.
The certain facial that is enjoyed by Blanchett and Bullock is also known as the Hollywood EGF facial treatment. It is available from Georgia Louise who is a world-renowned facialist in New York City. According to one of her representatives, the facial consists of a TCA chemical peel and microneedling which is the creation of tiny holes in the skin. The skin is essentially wounded during the microneedling process and new collagen is created during the healing process. Another factor that makes this treatment so popular is that the procedure allows for deeper product absorption after the microneedling which helps to make the anti-aging results much more noticeable to others. After microneedling is performed, Louise uses a special “electrifying” mask to help calm the skin.
The next part of the process is the “penis” aspect. This is what Louise calls her “secret box” of EGF serum. The EGF used by Louise is described as being “derived from the progenitor cells of the human fibroblast taken from Korean newborn baby foreskin which helps to generate collagen and elastin.” Louise says she makes sure her patients are aware of where the EGF comes from and that the serum used in a penis facial is approved by the FDA. According to Louise, the “EGF is derived from newborn baby foreskin, BUT cells were taken and from that, new cells are cloned from a laboratory. The EGF serum only contains cloned cells.”
The use of EGF by skincare experts is not new as it has been used for years in procedures such as microneedling. In addition, beauty brands such as Mizon and DHC sell products that use EGF. One of the reasons that EGF is so popular is that it is a polypeptide (a chain of amino acids) found in the fibroblast of the skin and it promotes cell growth as well as development and healing.
As recently as 2016, a study that examined the role of EGF in cosmetic treatments and products noted that, even through topically applied EGF and other growth factors have been shown to help rejuvenate the appearance and health of the skin, their molecules are quite big which tends to make it hard for them to penetrate the skin. Microneedling is performed to open a path for better absorption.
It’s also been found that the use of an EGF serum, twice a day for three months, improves the look of facial blemishes such as brown spots and wrinkles while improving the overall skin texture.
Even through the penis facial has been growing in popularity; there are some that question the ethics of cultivating penis-derived cells for use by others. The new wave of interest brought on by Sandra Bullock endorsing the procedure has sparked criticism from a group known as Intact America (an anti-circumcision group).
In a recent statement, Georganne Chapin, the executive director of Intact America said, “That Bullock and DeGeneres could joke about using foreskins, taken without consent from Korean baby boys, for a beauty treatment indicates a total lack of understanding of the ethics involved.”
While the EGF that is used in many beauty products comes from babies in Korea, it is important to note that the growth factor can also be found in saliva, kidneys and urine. In addition, snail excretions, which is another beauty ingredient growing in popularity in skincare products; contain a growth factor like that in the foreskin of babies.
One of the reasons that EGF created from human skin is so popular is because doctors are putting it on human skin so they want something that is close to what the human body would use on itself to heal. While growth factors derived from urine or saliva might be able to be used by skincare professionals, they don’t perform exactly the same functions as the growth factors from skin. Plus, the use of the foreskin is popular because it is more directly related to the type of cell being targeted (the skin cells) and it is easier to harvest the growth factors from foreskin as opposed to the other options discussed above.
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