Skincare company breaks into high street retail with Boots deal

A revolutionary skincare company that harnesses the healing power of green tea to reduce scarring has clinched a major deal with Boots the Chemist.

The contract with the high street retail giant comes three years after Science of Skin (SOS) was founded by two medics on a mission to help heal the world’s wounds.

It’s an exciting breakthrough for the brand, founded by Dr Ardeshir Bayat, a skin biologist at the University of Manchester, and leading cosmetic surgeon, Douglas McGeorge, of Chester.

The expanding brand is headed up by chief executive Emma Blackman, who runs the company from Croston, in Lancashire.

International distribution deals are also growing, with SOS products now being supplied by specialist outlets in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belgium, and Luxembourg.

It’s part of an overall strategy to grow the business and work is under way to bring more retail and international distributors on board in the USA, Europe, Asia, Middle East, and Australia.

The flagship Solution for Scars cream was formulated by Mr McGeorge and Dr Bayat to help reduce scarring caused by everything from chicken pox and acne, to injury, surgery and even burns.

The pair met while working together as plastic surgeons and discovered a mutual passion for scientific investigation to improve wound healing.

The company was established after four years of research, which identified compounds that significantly improve scarring.

The secret behind the expanding brand’s success is an active ingredient derived from green tea, which has been clinically proven to help reduce the redness and thickness of scars.

The SOS range uses all vegan ingredients and is produced at specialist beauty manufacturers, Surefil, in St Helens.

It includes Solution for Stretch Marks, Stretch Mark Defence, and Solution for Bites, as well as Solution for Scars.

Products will initially be stocked at 28 of Boots stores in Ireland.

It means Science of Skin products, previously only available online in the UK outside of Fenwicks of London, will now reach more customers direct.

Online sales are also growing after SOS started wholesaling to Amazon, as well as its own website and selected online beauty retailers.

“We’re delighted to be launching with Boots,” said Emma.

“It’s the culmination of a lot of hard work by everyone in the team.

“It’s been wonderful to watch the brand grow over the last three years, to see it go from a product fresh out of development to where we are beginning to build a reputation as a high street name.

“Our online and international sales are also growing. It really feels like we are at the cusp of something exciting. It is making a difference to people with a product that actually works.”

Ardeshir Bayat

SOS co-founder and scientific director, Dr Bayat, was responsible for developing the products which include the green tea extract ingredient.

A clinician scientist for the past 20 years, he gave up his clinical career as a plastic surgeon, to focus on research into wound healing and scarring.

He said: “Science of Skin is breaking the mould when it comes to effective skincare solutions.”

Co-founder and medical director, Mr McGeorge, a graduate of the University of Manchester, practises at the Grosvenor Nuffield in Chester and the Spire Cheshire Hospital, south of Warrington.

He is an award-winning plastic surgeon and one of the leading surgeons in the UK, with a wealth of surgical experience in the NHS and in the private sector.

He said: “Scarring is one of the final frontiers to optimising results following surgery.

“The quality of scar is often the difference between a good result and an unhappy patient, yet, until recently there was little surgeons could use, to make that difference.

“Solution for Scars is a breakthrough product that actually alters the inflammatory response to injury, often so detrimental to perfect healing.”