Initial excitement turned to disappointment.  There was a report today from a Miami dermatology conference that a turmeric skin cream improved wrinkles.

From a cosmetically-minded MD colleague (thanks, New Skin Laser Center) came the inevitable pooh-pooh.

The real bone of contention was the trial design: comparing before and after photos.  The study size was small, only 89 patients.  It was not clear as to whether investigators were blinded. 

Evidently, researchers at Procter and Gamble have come up with a way to take the color and odor out of turmeric.  Ok, so that's interesting.

Coverage on WebMD was enthusiastic.  Coverage on InteractMD.com, not so much. 

There was no information about the study on the American Academy of Dermatology web site, nor on their Annual Meeting website, at least tonight.

I was happy that there was some attempt to be rational about this turmeric product, but I was sad that the sample size was small, and there was no mention of whether the researchers were blinded.  Overall, this treatment seems nontoxic and at least worth a look to interested parties.