Nano-Based Complexions By Plastic Surgeon Watts Goes TV Route For Launch

Complexions by Dr. David Watts - an anti-aging skin care line inspired by plastic surgery and customized to benefit all skin colors - will debut on the Home Shopping Network (HSN) Dec. 28, according to the brand founder.

In a recent interview with "The Rose Sheet," the plastic surgeon said he decided to skip brick-and-mortar retail doors in favor of the ready national exposure of television.

Television is "a perfect medium for us. We felt we could get the most exposure and get our story out there because our story is so unique," Watts said. "We've gotten out of the gate eight shows [on HSN] as a brand new brand. Which is almost unheard of."

The brand's success with television reflects Watts' familiarity with the medium. For the past 11 years he has hosted a weekly, live call-in television show called Plastic Surgery Issues & Answers on WMCN, a New Jersey cable station.

Watts says he was inspired to create the line by questions repeatedly asked by callers to his show - questions about how patients can postpone the need for plastic surgery, maintain the effects of surgery after the fact, and control pigment in the skin.

Research revealed that products on the market indicated for such aims lacked the "plastic surgical perspective," Watts said. "Plenty of dermatology stuff out there, a lot of cosmetic stuff, but really looking from that perspective there was nothing."

Complexions will consist initially of two products - Age Defying Facial Beauty Treatment and Renewing Eye Beauty Treatment; each will retail for $40.

The actives in the Complexions line have been microencapsulated for more effective delivery. According to Watts, "100 percent of the formula is this nanotechnology. Usually it's just 1 to 2 percent."

The effect of the microencapsulation technology is that "our percent delivery to the skin - which in most creams is 6 to 15 percent - is 85 to 100 percent," he said.

Also, innovation on the nano scale allows for a sustained release of ingredients over eight to 12 hours, the plastic surgeon added.

Complexions "will let [consumers] get into the plastic surgery arena without having to get stuck or cut," he said.

Watts acknowledged that the products will not provide consumers with benefits on the level of fillers or injectibles like Botox .

The creams will help consumers address age spots or blotchiness related to aging, as the skin lightener kojic acid and the lightening ingredient Lumiskin are microencapsulated to fight discoloration, Watts said.

Microencapsulated hyaluronic acid and peptides award short-term anti-aging benefits, he noted.

The Facial Beauty Treatment targets fine lines and wrinkles with ingredients that strengthen the collagen and elastin fibers in the skin, while the Eye Beauty Treatment contains Hyloxyl, which lightens dark circles and diminishes puffiness.

Both the Hyloxyl and the collagen-boosting ingredients deliver results over an eight- to 10-week period, Watts indicated.

Extensions for the line are tied to future appearances on HSN. In April, the brand will launch a volume-enhancing lip product.

In June 2008, the brand will appear on the channel to introduce a facial volume enhancer, a scar/stretch mark improver and a neck product that uses active ingredients similar to those in the face product.

Also expected to bow at that time is a product Watts calls "Booster Shot."

The formula has not been finalized, but the plastic surgeon says it will contain a keratinocyte-derived growth factor - "something [used] in plastic surgery for wound healing" - to strengthen the keratinocyte layer of the skin, thereby reducing the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.

The item will have a syringe-like package so consumers can deliver the formula directly to isolated lines on the face, Watts said.

Addressing "The Diverse Face Of America"

Complexions products come in three versions, each formulated differently for a different skin type. "It's not based on race, it's not based on ethnicity - it's completely based on the amount of pigment you have in your skin."

Group 1 encompasses people with very little pigment in the skin, such as people with blond hair, blue eyes and freckles. Group 3 is for people with plenty of pigment in the skin, such as African Americans, Southeast Asians or dark-skinned Hispanics.

Those with moderate levels of pigment in the skin - Asians and people of Mediterranean decent, for example - fall into Group 2, Watts explained.

The approach allows Watts to offer products for the ethnic market without marketing Complexions as an explicitly "ethnic" brand. "If you're coming out as an ethnic brand you're going to get 6 percent of the ethnic marketplace because a lot of the ethnic market doesn't want to be labeled as 'ethnic,'" Watts said. "They want mainstream, but something that reaches out to them."

"We're reaching out to the entire ethnic consumer market by giving them this scale, but we're not excluding Group 1s either," Watts continued. "We're here for everybody."

Watts, who is African American, has made it a point not to have his line pigeonholed as an ethnic brand. "Everyone wants to call us the black Perricone and we're not," he said.

To address "the diverse face of America," Watts has developed a color scale based on the Fitzpatrick Sunburn scale that will be displayed on the HSN show. Consumers can hold their hands up to the television to see which group suits them, he said.

Because age spots are often a concern for Group 1s, their formula contains lightening ingredients at a low concentration. The formula also addresses dry skin that results when moisture glands shrink over time due to exposure to UV rays, Watts said.

Items targeting Group 3 contain higher levels of kojic acid and Lumiskin to combat the discoloration that often is a problem for people with dark skin.

Because dry skin is another issue people with dark skin tones face, the formula contains microencapsulated shea butter and cocoa butter for an extra moisturizing effect.

- Molly Laas ([email protected])