- Access
- Supplement
- Cost / month
- ≈ €13–81
- researchers' estimate; no listing to price
Builds over days or weeks of regular use rather than with each dose.
r/SkincareAddictionLux· · 32 upvotesOriginal ↗
I received the 15ml bottle in a skincare curated box and my skin has never been this glowy, hydrated, and silky soft. It even cleared up a gnarly bit of eyelid eczema I was dealing with for weeks from irritation using another product.
GlowingTopical
BIOEFFECT EGF Serum, 15 ml bottle received in a curated beauty box
r/KoreanBeauty· · 20 upvotesOriginal ↗
I was flipping through pics and noticed before I started the serum the wrinkle was super prominent, while now I just have a very small crease in my inner eyelid! Huzzah!
GlowingTopical · under-eye wrinkle
Lanbelle EGF/FGF serum (also contains FGF) with a collagen/retinol cream, a couple of months
r/30PlusSkinCare· · 16 upvotesOriginal ↗
The Bioeffect imho was not worth it and didn’t make any noticeable difference in the quality of my skin.
NothingTopical
has spent a lot on EGF and growth-factor serums; later said she may not have tried it long enough and started a second trial
- Users report
- The most-discussed product by far is BIOEFFECT's barley-grown EGF serum and eye serum, then Le Mieux, Klairs and assorted Korean EGF essences. About 60% describe a gain: glowier, plumper, silkier skin within days to weeks, firmer upper eyelids and crepey under-eyes over months (several eye-serum users of 2-3 years), faster calming of redness after surgery or irritation, and in one case longer lashes. About a fifth used a whole bottle, sometimes three months of BIOEFFECT, and saw nothing worth the price ($150-180 per 15 ml), and others found the face serum greasy or broke out from the rich Korean creams. Nearly everyone also uses tretinoin, acids or other actives, so the EGF's own share is unclear, and several threads raise the cancer question; people with skin-cancer history or suspicious moles say they avoid it. Exosome and conditioned-media serums (TNS, Plated, Neogenesis) are not counted here. Felt nothing: ~21% of reports (5/24).
- Best effects
- Glowier, plumper, more hydrated skin, sometimes overnight · firmer, less crepey eyelids and under-eyes over months (eye serums) · smoother texture; some say shallow acne scars softened · faster calming of redness after procedures or irritation
- Downsides
- Expensive for an effect many can't see ($150-180 per 15 ml for the best-known serum) · about a fifth notice nothing after a full bottle or months · greasy feel; breakouts from some rich EGF creams and essences · fragile protein: brands say to avoid acids, vitamin C and oils at the same time
- Watch
- Theoretical tumour promotion: EGF does not start cancers, but in animal co-carcinogenesis studies it can promote tumours, so applying it to a skin cancer, precancer (actinic keratosis) or suspicious mole could in principle speed its growth; this would be silent and delayed. On intact skin very little of this 6 kDa protein gets past the barrier, but microneedling, peels, lasers and broken skin deliver it straight to living cells.
- Evidence
- Small human studies — the molecule is an approved wound-healing drug in Korea (topical rhEGF for diabetic foot ulcers, phase III placebo-controlled trial) and elsewhere, but the cosmetic evidence is a 29-woman open-label study of a barley-EGF serum and a 20-woman pilot RCT comparing two growth-factor serums, both without placebo; how much reaches living skin through an intact barrier is doubtful
- Caveat
- This verdict covers EGF serums on intact skin, where a 6 kDa hydrophilic protein barely penetrates and there is little sign it reaches the dividing cells it acts on; that low exposure is why it is not excluded. Used on microneedled, peeled, lasered or broken skin it does reach living epidermis and dermis, and a direct growth-factor agonist at that exposure would fall under the strict bar's exclusion (mechanism 2 with silent, delayed harm). Skip it entirely on or near skin cancers, actinic keratoses or changing moles, and after a skin-cancer diagnosis. Efficacy evidence is thin and mostly industry-linked; 'sh-oligopeptide-1' on a label says nothing about how much active protein survived formulation.
- Typical use
- Finished serums at a few ppm of EGF (one Korean ampoule advertises 10 ppm), 2-4 drops once or twice daily on clean, dry, intact skin, waiting before acids or oils.
- Getting it
- Over-the-counter cosmetic: BIOEFFECT EGF Serum and eye serum (barley-produced), Le Mieux EGF, Klairs Midnight Blue Youth Activating Drop, Isntree, Easydew and many Korean EGF essences and creams; EGF drug products (Easyef in Korea) are prescription wound treatments.
- Stacked with
- Tretinoin: The usual base; users alternate nights and say EGF calms retinoid irritation. · microneedling: Commonly applied right after needling or peels; this pushes a growth factor past the barrier and is outside this entry's verdict.