Get Rid of Scars with Copper Peptides?

I've heard lots of good stuff about copper peptides but do they really work on improving scars? Many people swear their scars improved by using copper peptides in combination with hydroxy acids.

Dr. Pickart, who was the first scientist who started research on copper-peptides in the 1970's says scars soften and then start becoming smaller because copper peptides shut down the production of the protein that is responsible for creating scar tissue. (TGF-beta-1 ) Pickart's company Skinbiology offers many different copper peptide based creams and lotions.

The enormous amount of copper peptides lotions, creams, moisturizers and peels and just as much people discussing the effect of the lotions on their scars, wrinkles, stretch marks and acne scars leads to much confusion. The Skinbiology forum does not resolve much of this vagueness. Do coppper peptides work on scars? And how do you have to use them?

Copper peptides are not used on a large scale like hospitals and burn centers use silicone sheets.

I understand it is Copper Sulfate solution what burn centers use to wash burns and rinse them off. It can be toxic if used improperly and has antimicrobial and tissue regenerating properties and is often used for severe burn treatment in acute phase.

As far as I know there are no independent clinical trials proving the effectiveness of copper peptides on scars. Procyte and SkinBiology are the companies that have the patents on these copper peptide complexes so probably not much independent research will be done.

Copper peptides seem to have some effect on minor, shallow scars but they have to be used in combination with peels. The skin has to be damaged so the copper peptides can aid in the process of the skin growing back. Or as Dr. Pickard states: "a peel should be done in order to facilitate the collagen remodeling".

I find this copper peptides review I stumbled upon significant:
"I have been a user of skin biology products for 21 months now and I can say with total certainty that my hypertrophic scarring has improved to the tune of 70%... it does take time and is a very slow process. It is one in which you hardly notice improvement, until after around a year or so."

Knowing from experience there are much better and quicker ways to improve scar appearance this review confirms my presumptions.


My conclusion; copper peptides will probably help a little bit because copper is a part of healthy collagen placement but they have to be used in combination with peels and results will only be seen over (a relative long) time.

The cosmetic business is big business and the vast majority of all the products being sold in this branch do not work on an objective basis. It's all about the promise of staying young, a dream that's being sold. As long as people believe in it it will work for them. But I stay skeptical and not convinced at all. Regarding the copper peptides; I need a clinical study to confirm they work on scars and then I might be turned around.