UNLESS you’ve got truckloads of money for plastic surgery or endless Botox shots, having fabulous, youthful skin after 40 can be a real challenge.

The best – and cheaper – option would be to invest in a good facial cream containing ingredients and antioxidants that claim to help slow down the ageing process.

The Zelens Skin Science skincare range claims to address individual skin needs to fight premature ageing.

“The number of facial creams professing to have this or that antioxidant to fight skin ageing are a dime a dozen in the market,” says Dr Marko Lens, a plastic and reconstructive surgeon currently based in London.

He should know. In the late 1990s, following extensive research into skin cancer and ageing, Dr Lens began developing the Zelens Skin Science skincare range, an anti-ageing regimen that addresses individual skin needs, and tackle premature ageing and environmental hazards.

Zelens Skin Science was introduced in 2005 and is now available in 15 countries world wide including Australia, Belgium, Hong Kong, Japan, Switzerland and Britain.

While Dr Lens is quick to dispel the idea of having discovered a “miracle in a jar”, the hypoallergenic line contains not just one or two antioxidants, but is packed with 20 natural ingredients among which are 14 potent antioxidants.

He discovered that the combination of the most potent antioxidants in one cream resulted in a comprehensive formula for optimal skin health that counteracted oxidative injury to the skin caused by environmental factors such as UV light, pollution, cigarette smoke, alcohol and stress.

“I wanted to get to the bottom of skin ageing through targeted therapy, a concept derived from my skin cancer findings. I wanted to apply that to cosmetology, starting with the treatment of free radicals.

“Skin cancer is a result of skin ageing. You hardly find skin cancer patients without premature ageing,” he explains.

What triggered the development of Dr Lens’ pilot skincare range was the preoccupation of the women at his office with the search for eternal youth.

“Vitamins C and E are great antioxidants, but not enough. I wanted to see how I could combine all the antioxidants which work well separately, yet have a synergistic effect when put together,” he says.

Thus began an arduous seven-year research and development process.

Ingredients were selected following multiple studies on the efficacy of Kampo medicine (Japanese traditional herbal medicine), and based on scientific evidence from traditional medicine, skin pharmacology and biology.

The fragrance of the creams is derived from Shiso extract, a Japanese mint leaf containing antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-allergenic properties.

Why traditional Japanese traditional medicine and not say, Indian medicine?

“I was very impressed with how the Japanese handled and extracted active ingredients from herbs and plants. Japanese women really know how to take care of their skin, and even back in the geisha times, their skin was flawless!”

More crucially, there was a need to formulate a cream that actually permeated the epidermis, as the outer layer of the skin is quite resistant to most substances.

“I discovered how to improve the liposome delivery system by fusing active ingredients into the liposome so that it delivers active ingredients directly into the cell,” he explains.

This advanced controlled release delivery system enhanced the absorption of an active ingredient by the skin with a controllable rate of release of the encapsulated substance. It enabled the active ingredient inside the liposome to be transported efficiently and delivered to the cells to target specific molecules.

For example, the ingredients in the Zelens Day Cream specifically target and protect the DNA molecule of the cell, while the Night Cream specifically targets collagen.

The Zelens Skin Science range is limited to only a day cream, night cream, serum and eye cream.

“The skin doesn’t need 20 different products; the concept of skincare is, after all, very simple,” says Dr Lens.

The Zelens skincare range is targeted at men and women of all skin types, above the age of 25.

“Believe it or not, most damage happens in the first 20 years of your life,” Dr Lens reveals, “And although women are usually fans of such products, recent statistics in Britain revealed that 30% of Zelens users are men.”

The Zelens Cellular DNA Protection Day Cream, Cellular DNA Protection Night Cream and Intensive Triple-action Eye Cream is available at Escentials at Tangs, Pavilion Kuala Lumpur.