I recently referred to my Natural Healing book (about the size of an encyclopedia volume) concerning anti-aging vitamins and nutrients for skin. Among the suggestions was something called DMAE. After visiting the Vitamin Shoppe and buying a laundry list of vitamins, I began daily taking the supplements.
I also began applying freshly cut lemon to my skin and left it there during the day and at night while asleep. I began to notice my pores were getting cleaner, but my face seemed to be growing like Barry Bonds head on steroids. Not my desired look.
I stopped the lemon thinking it may be the culprit and began using Witch Hazel and a toner I bought while on a cruise. The swelling seemed to still be there. Then I investigated DMAE online and found the excerpt from the article below, the key points underlined for emphasis. If anybody has any experience with DMAE (and getting off it to reduce the swelling of the face), please let me know. I am taking 130mg capsule (which I will probably discontinue to see how this may reduce swelling of the skin).
Vacuolization is the development or formation of vacuoles (small cavities or space in the skin tissue) containing air or fluid. It’s kind of like when a guy uses steroids for muscular development or takes creatine, you retain water and blow up. Not a nice look in the face by any means.
DMAE (dimethylaminoethanol) is a skin care ingredient enthusiastically touted by many skin care vendors. One of the reasons for its popularity is that it is one of the very few agents (perhaps even the only one) shown to produce some skin tightening and modestly reduce facial sag.
However, a 2007 study published in the British Journal of Dermatology raised safety concerns regarding topical DMAE. Dr. Morissette and colleagues, from the University of Quebec, studied the effect of DMAE in human skin cell cultures and rabbit skin.
The researchers found that adding DMAE to the cultures of fibroblasts (key type of skin cells) produced the effect known as vacuolization. Vacuolization is often observed in cells after various types of damage as cells try to encapsulate and excrete foreign agents and/or their own damaged components. Hence the researches concluded that the vacuolization induced by DMAE was suggestive of cell damage. They also observed that DMAE impaired the ability of fibroblasts to divide. Notably, the above adverse effects reversed after DMAE had been washed out of the culture following a short-term exposure. (Long-term exposure has not been studied.)
Paul F Davis - Weblog 