Fountain of Youth

: You shouldn't be feeling any of this.

From plumping...

: Buzzing

to scrubbing. From zapping to tucking, it seems Americans never tire of searching for that elusive Fountain of Youth.

: I think we'll put it a little bit more in this upper right, ok?

But what if you don't want to undergo the needle or knife? Will any of the hundreds of anti-aging products on the market help you turn back the clock? The answer is yes, sort of.

You probably won't get dermal penetration of these agents. You'll only get epidermal penetration, so that's penetration to the, in the superficial layers of the skin, but these compounds can protect you from environmental antioxidants, so they definitely can have an effect when applied topically.

That means that along with sunscreen these products can help protect your skin against further damage from pollution and the sun. But what if you want to erase damage already done?

Some of these products can help to reverse photo damage. So for instance, Vitamin C can protect you in the present from environmental assaults, but can also help to reverse photo damage in the skin.

Some of them help with acne as well. For example, the familiar names of Retin-A, Retinol, and the glycolic and alpha hydroxy acids.

But they are also known to stimulate collagen production when used over time. So this helps to plump fine lines and wrinkles out from beneath, and so they are also helpful for aging.

: This is a very nice anti-wrinkle product that contains peptides...

More recent products focus on small proteins called peptides that stimulate collagen production. Collagen produces youthful skin. There's even peptides that mimic the wrinkle freezing properties of botox, without the needle!

If you purchase a product that contains the two, you benefit from the muscle relaxation as well as the collagen stimulation.

But don't get too hopeful. A recent Consumer Reports study showed only a 10 percent improvement from any of the products tested, even the most expensive.

What the report showed first of all, was that many of these products had a minimal effect. I mean even the most highly rated product had very mild improvements, subjective and objective.

Meaning the best results would likely be on skin with the least damage. Proving once again that the best anti-aging product is prevention. For WebMD, I'm Sandee LaMotte.