Drug – bio-affecting and body treating compositions – Manicure or pedicure compositions
Reexamination Certificate
2000-03-16
2002-08-20
Page, Thurman K. (Department: 1615)
Drug, bio-affecting and body treating compositions
Manicure or pedicure compositions
C424S401000, C514S873000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06436379
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to emollients used to treat cuticles, especially cuticles surrounding finger or toenails. More particularly, the present invention relates to a semi-solid emollient that can be packaged in a container from which the emollient can be extended, and preferably retracted as well.
BACKGROUND
In the field of cosmetic, personal care, and pharmaceutical products, an emollient is defined as an agent that moisturizes and/or softens and/or smoothes the skin. Typically, emollients tend to reduce the roughness, cracking and irritation of the skin. The smoothing is believed to be effected by the penetration of the emollient into the surface layers of tissue.
Emollients tend to be bland, fatty, oleaginous substances. One of the benefits of emollients is their ability to exclude water-soluble irritants, air, and air-borne bacteria. Presently, there are numerous compositions that function as emollients in a wide variety of products, although the respective compositions may function in different ways. For example, certain emollients coat the surface of the skin and serve to impede water loss from the skin. Such emollients are generally comprised of large molecules that form a hydrophobic barrier.
Use of the word “emollient” is often intended to mean a combination of several emollients selected for their individual properties and blended to achieve a desired result. Examples of emollients are lanolin, castor oil, mineral oil, silicone derivatives and petroleum jelly. These products (with the possible exception of the silicone derivatives) typically exhibit an undesirable greasy feel on the skin. Other compositions used as emollients include high oleic sunflower oil and its derivatives, macadamia nut oil and its derivatives, grape seed oil, hazelnut oil, olive oil, sesame oil, and other natural seed and nut oils such as jojoba oil, and derivatives thereof. Of this group the preferred emollients for cosmetic and personal care formulation use are high oleic sunflower oil and its derivatives, macadamia nut oil and its derivatives, and jojoba oil and its derivatives. These emollients are preferred due to their skin feel (they are non-oily and tend to penetrate the skin) and superior oxidative stability when incorporated in cosmetic, pharmaceutical and personal care formulations. Finally, other compositions used as emollients include corn oil, cottonseed oil, rose water ointment, apricot kernel oil, avocado oil, theobroma oil, almond oil, and myristyl alcohol.
Additionally, a number of fatty acids derived from either plants or animal sources have been used as emollients. Fatty acids generally comprise aliphatic hydrocarbon or other organic chains with carboxylic substituents on them, typically having between 8 and 24 carbon atoms in the chain backbone. Fatty acids are often used as emollients or “superfatting agents” (this term being known to those skilled in the art) in creams, lotions, shaving creams, lipsticks and as binding agents in pressed powders and blushes. Fatty acids used in cosmetic formulations include stearic acid, oleic acid, myristic acid and palmitic acid. Other typical fatty acids include linoleic acid, behenic acid, and palmitoleic acid.
Fatty alcohols are also used as emollients. They are said to be less sticky and less heavy than some other fatty materials, such as the fatty acids, and are frequently used to lower the viscosity and improve the stability of lotions and creams. Fatty alcohols are also used in reactive hair dying and perming products. Examples of fatty alcohols used as emollients are lauryl alcohol, cetyl alcohol, stearyl alcohol, jojoba alcohol and oleyl alcohol.
Further, fatty esters are used as emollients. One benefit of fatty esters is that they are not as oily to the touch as some other types of fatty emollients. Examples of fatty esters include isopropyl palmitate, isopropyl myristate and glyceryl stearate. Another fatty ester emollient is ojoba oil, which is derived from the seed of the plant species
Simmondsia chinensis
. Jojoba oil and its derivatives have an excellent skin feel (because they are non-oily and penetrating as compared to some other substances) and impart emolliency without a greasy feel. Jojoba oil is composed almost exclusively of wax esters, with little or no triglycerides present. Further, non-biodegradable emollients, such as hydrocarbons or silicones (such as methyl silicones) are known and are used as emollients in cosmetic and personal care preparations.
One of the problems with typical emollients (other than some of the above-described silicone emollients) is that they impart a wet, oily, or greasy feel to the cuticle area being treated (sometimes referred to herein as the “selected area”). Further, typical emollients are often placed on or migrate to unselected areas. As used herein, the term “unselected area” means an area other than the selected area, and includes the fingertips, face, palm, clothes, furniture, and other surfaces not intended for treatment. When an emollient gets on unselected areas it can lead to an uncomfortable feeling and/or undesirable appearance (leaving a heavy coating and/or shine). Often users of cuticle treatment products containing high levels of oily or greasy components experience a migration of the applied oily or greasy components to unselected surfaces which may causes staining of clothing, furniture coverings and other objects contacted by the user.
In pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/010,736, filed Jan. 22, 1998, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,968,530 to Arquette, both of which are owned by the assignee of the present application, there are disclosed emollients that impart a “dry” feel to the user and, unlike silicones, are naturally derived and biodegradable. These emollients include esters produced from jojoba oil or natural organic seed oil. More particularly, these emollients include ethyl and isopropyl jojoba esters or derivatives together with jojoba oil, randomized jojoba oil, partially saturated and randomized jojoba esters, and long chain jojoba alcohols. Furthermore, in pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/329,882 filed Jun. 11, 1999 to Kleiman, also owned by the assignee of the present application, there are disclosed oxidatively stable long chain ethyl ester emollients comprising stabilized ethyl esters of macadamia nut oil and other natural seed oils. The products disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,968,530 and application Ser. No. 09/010/736 to Arquette and U.S. patent application No. Ser. 09/329,882 to Kleiman are known as “dry emollients” due to the feel of dry emolliency imparted when these products are applied to the skin.
Containers normally used to store and carry typical emollients or commercially available cuticle treatment products are not designed to allow application in such a manner as to contribute to a dry emollient feel. Typical containers include small glass bottles of the same general type used for nail polish. These containers come equipped with a small brush for application of the liquid cuticle treatment product to users' cuticles. Such containers often leak or dry up due to broken caps or improper seals and application of the cuticle treatment product is often an unpleasant event due to its free flowing and oily nature. Another less common container for liquid cuticle treatment is similar to a large felt pen, such as a “Magic Marker” in size, shape and in its method of delivery of the cuticle treatment product through a “wick” similar to the writing tip of a marker. One such container is called a “cuticle Nourishing Pen” (NAGELHAUT-PFLEGESTIFT FEUTRE NOURRISSANT), which contains 0.14 FL. OZ. (4 ml net) of cuticle treatment and is sold by ALESSANDRO GmbH Cosmetics D-40764 of Langenfeld Germany. Although it is in some aspects more convenient than the “nail polish” type container for carrying and delivering a cuticle treatment product, the low-viscosity fluid in such a container dries out quickly. Further, only a treatment product of very low viscosity can be delivered through the wick. Such low viscosity pr
Brown James H.
Hill John C.
Rodriguez Theresa E.
Howard S.
International Flora Technologies Ltd.
Page Thurman K.
The Halvorson Law Firm
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