The subject invention relates to a skin cream that can be used to moisturize and rejuvenate skin that has been damaged by exposure to sunlight or which has simply been affected over the years by intrinsic aging. It can also be used to slow the rate of photo-induced aging to maintain beautiful skin tone and texture over the years. It inhibits the formation of wrinkles and in some cases reduces the depth of existing wrinkles or eliminates them entirely. In some cases, the skin cream of this invention also lightens age spots and other types of blemishes associated with aging. This invention is based upon the discovery that alkyl lactates, such as ethyl lactate, can be used to improve the penetration of active ingredients in skin care formulations deep into lower layers of the skin tissue. For instance, ethyl lactate can be included in aqueous based skin creams, such as oil in water emulsions, to deliver active ingredients deep into the skin structure. Ethyl lactate is particularly desirable for utilization in conjunction with ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) containing skin cream formulations. This is beneficial because the overall effectiveness of skin creams that utilize ascorbic acid as an active ingredient is contingent upon delivery of the ascorbic acid through the outer layers of the stratum corneum and viable epidermis and into the dermis layer of the skin structure. The present invention more specifically discloses a topical formulation comprising about 1 weight percent to about 20 weight percent ascorbic acid, about 1 weight percent to about 10 weight percent of an amino acid selected from the group consisting of phenylalanine and tyrosine, about 0.5 weight percent to about 5 weight percent of a non--toxic zinc salt, about 0.01 weight percent to about 20 weight percent of an alkyl lactate, wherein the alkyl group in the alkyl lactate contains from 2 to about 12 carbon atoms, and a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier.
