Drug – bio-affecting and body treating compositions – Preparations characterized by special physical form – Cosmetic – antiperspirant – dentifrice
Reexamination Certificate
1997-12-22
2001-05-15
Kight, John (Department: 1617)
Drug, bio-affecting and body treating compositions
Preparations characterized by special physical form
Cosmetic, antiperspirant, dentifrice
C424S070110, C424S063000, C424S059000, C514S844000, C514S887000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06231873
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an external treatment agent such as a cosmetic containing fine soft microcapsules. More specifically, it relates to an external treatment agent containing gelatin capsules enclosing a liquid and/or solid hydrophobic component or a water-in-oil type emulsion therein, in which the capsules are not broken during the preparation of external treatment agents such as cosmetics, drugs, quasi drugs, but can be broken easily without escape on the palms of the hands upon usage (i.e., the term “escape” refers to the stage wherein the capsules are rubbed through the fingers or palms without rupture when the fingers and palms of the hands are rubbed together, to uniformly mix the aqueous phase which is the base and the capsules with the fingers or palms), whereby the contents are leaked out to be mixed with the outer phase, and there is no feeling of foreign matter caused by portions of the capsule films remaining after breaking, which external treatment agents also have a good useability and excellent luster imparting effect and skin wettability, or in which the unstable water-soluble substance and lipid-soluble substance enclosed within the capsules exhibit an excellent stability without deterioration for a long term, and have an excellent luster imparting effect and wettability of the skin, with a good useability.
The present invention further relates to a method for producing microcapsules by microencapsulating hydrophobic substances according to a complex co-acervation and a simple co-acervation by using a hydrophilic polymer, which comprises previously forming a co-acervate and then successively adding hydrophobic substances with different properties, whereby microcapsules enclosing separate hydrophobic substances can be obtained at the same time in one step without a mutually mixing of the hydrophobic substances during production, which is extremely cost-advantageous.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally speaking, so-called external treatment agents include cosmetics, drugs, and quasi drugs. Among the above, the cosmetics are classified into basic make-up cosmetics and hair cosmetics, depending on the location at which they act or their purpose.
The basic cosmetics include cosmetic water, emulsion, and cream, which are used for applying oily components having a good quality or a hydrophilic substance having a high humectant property with a good balance to the skin when the balance of the skin humectant mechanism in a human body is disturbed by various external conditions (wind, temperature, humidity, etc.) or inherent conditions (age, etc.). For example, a cosmetic water emulsion is a hydrophilic cosmetic having a transparent appearance, comprising a humectant component, an alcohol, and water, etc., and the emulsion and cream are cosmetics comprising an oily component and an aqueous component mixed in a suitable ratio.
As make-up cosmetics, a foundation, eyeshadow, and lipsticks, may be included. These are used for varying the skin color by the application of a color, affording a three-dimensional feeling to the skin, to emphasize the color of a part of or conceal a defect of the skin, thereby creating an attractive appearance while simultaneously conditioning the skin.
The hair cosmetics include hair tonics, hair oils, and hair creams, which are used as hair conditioners and as a nutrient for the hair.
More specifically, the common function or purpose of these cosmetics is to maintain a healthy and normal stage (homeostasis) by applying a suitable oily component and humectant component or water, in accordance with the nature of the skin or hair, to thereby assist the natural humectant mechanism of skin or hair and alleviate deterioration of the skin or hair caused by changes in external environmental conditions, including natural conditions such as temperature and humidity and artificial conditions such as defatting by washing.
For an improvement of these functions, various skin effective components such as vitamins and unsaturated fatty acids have been added in the prior art emulsion type cosmetics. As effective components, although water-soluble substances such as vitamin C, etc. and lipid-soluble substances such as vitamin A, linolenic acid, etc., are known, most of the water-soluble effective components are hydrolyzed when placed in contact with water, and thus the physiological activities thereof are lost. On the other hand, most of the lipid-soluble effective components are very susceptible to auto oxidation and, after forming activated radicals through a loss of hydrogen atoms by light or heat, form peroxy radicals by an absorption of oxygen, and are decomposed or polymerized via hydroperoxide (peroxide) to thereby forming carbonyl compounds, lower aldehydes, lower fatty acids, ketones and other polymers, and thus the activities thereof are lost.
Accordingly, when formulating these effective components in cosmetics or other external agents, oxidation must be prevented. As one means of preventing oxidation, a method in which the preparation of an external agent is preformed in an inert gas atmosphere such as nitrogen, and further, during filling of the product in a vessel, the air in the space in contact with the external agent is replaced with nitrogen or carbon dioxide, can be used. But this replacement with nitrogen has little effect unless not only the oxygen in the space portion but also the dissolved oxygen in the external agent are replaced with nitrogen, and the replacement with carbon dioxide may cause an undesirable rise in the acid value of the effective components, or an objectionable odor, with a lapse of time. Such preparation and storage can be performed at as low a temperature as possible, but this is practically almost impossible if the quality is to be guaranteed. Accordingly, a stabilization of external agents, for a long term has been effected by an addition of antioxidants, but since the properties and the effective concentration of antioxidants differ in accordance with the kind of effective skin component used, a drawback has arisen in that a thorough examination and much experimentation are required before practical use, which makes the method difficult to handle.
Also, the method of enclosing water-soluble and lipid-soluble effective components within microcapsules, to separate them from water and oxygen, has been investigated. But, in the known methods, a simultaneous microcapsulation of water-soluble and lipid-soluble components has been considered impossible, and the method in which the respective components are prepared separately by microcapsulation methods entirely different from each other and thereafter mixed has been used, and therefore, the preparation must be performed at least twice, which greatly increases labor costs. Further, when microcapsules enclosing a water-soluble effective component therein are formulated in a base of a cosmetic water or cream, in which water is the medium, a problem has arisen in that the water readily passes through the inside and outside of a capsule film, whereby the contents leak into the outer phase base within a short time.
In the prior art, microcapsules comprising a gelatin wall film swollen with water and enclosing liquid oil components have been formulated as an external agent, but these required an extremely strong breaking force because of the flexible wall films and contents therein when they are to be broken by compression by rubbing the palms of the hand together upon usage. Namely, when palms of the hands were rubbed together, the microcapsules were only slid over the skin surface or embedded in the skin pores, whereby sometimes breaking did not occur, and thus the efficacy of the oil components enclosed was not exhibited.
For example, as mentioned above, a cosmetic water is prepared by solubilizing an oil component (i.e., emollient agent), a flavor, and a medicament, to obtain a transparent appearance, and an O/W type emulsion or cream is prepared as an emulsion containing a large amount of an emulsifi
Aizawa Masanori
Kumano Yoshimaru
Noda Akira
Yamaguchi Michihiro
Faulkner D.
Kight John
Norris McLaughlin & Marcus P.A.
Shiseido Company Ltd
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