"Dermocosmetics: where consumers’ health and beauty expectations meet"
Brigitte Liberman
President - Active Cosmetics
We are on the L’Oréal stand at the Paris Dermatologists Days with Brigitte Liberman and today we are joined by Dr Pierre Schneider, dermatologist. So, how is the market performing and how is the Active Cosmetics Division doing?
The dermocosmetics market is very dynamic everywhere. Driven by health expectations, the Division is growing and over performing the market on every continent, especially in North America and Asia . Thanks to the quality of our brand portfolio, we are able to answer all kinds of expectations linked to Health and Beauty.
What are the main consumer trends in health and beauty?
Today health is really the priority number one for everybody. And taking care of the health of your skin and hair is part of this global concern. This is why today people are looking for safer products, well tolerated products and products with approved efficiency on their skin. They are also looking for more tools and advice from experts to be able to preserve or to boost the health of their skin and hair.
Dr Schneider, what are the questions your patients are asking at the moment? What are the main problems you are seeing?
Firstly, we can see an increase in the number of skin problems and specifically atopic dermatitis or allergies. As Mrs Liberman said, we have a lot of questions of concern about ingredients, product safety and also, a lot of questions about aggressors, pollution, stress, food as well as ageing. Information and tools are helpful for us in the management of our patients and for patients to take care of their own health.
Brigitte, what are the highlights of the year for the Active Cosmetics Division?
The main highlight of the year is certainly the dynamics of the Division. We were able to grow twice as fast as the markets worldwide . I think there are three main explanations for this performance.
The first one is the continuing success of our star products like Minéral 89 from Vichy or Effaclar from La Roche-Posay or CE Ferulic from SkinCeuticals.
The second reason is the quality of our innovation beyond the products. To give you an example, the launch of My Skin Track UV from La Roche-Posay in the United States to monitor UV exposure or even the exposure to external aggressors. Another example is the launch of Custom D.O.S.E. from SkinCeuticals among doctors. It is a great opportunity for them to offer a personalised product in terms of ageing and hyperpigmentation.
The last reason is the roll out of our American brand CeraVe in more than 30 countries, based on a very strong medical detailing, especially among dermatologists.
Dr Schneider, can you explain why dermatologists are interested in dermocosmetics? And how L’Oréal Active Cosmetics works with you?
Dermocosmetics are very helpful for us, as Ms Liberman eplained, they offer us a lot of innovative solutions for the patient with skin problems for example acne, eczema, psoriasis. And dermocosmetics are very helpful to prevent or limit some side effects of our own treatments. For example, in acne or in cancer, but also to associate dermocosmetics with treatments that could improve the efficiency of our treatments. L’Oréal works a lot in providing training for dermatologists and specifically for young dermatologists, so it improves our training.
Finally, we also participate in evaluating products to keep information on the tolerance and efficiency of the product.
Brigitte, what does a partnership between Active Cosmetics and doctors consist of?
In addition to Dr Schneider’s response, I would say that we are partnering in two fields. The first one is the development stage of the product. We are working with boards of dermatologists in Europe but also in Brazil, the United States and China to develop products and to evaluate their tolerance and efficiency. The second field is that we are today visiting more than 100,000 doctors worldwide, more than 65,000 dermatologists to present our latest products or innovations that we can offer to their patients.
