The ingredient, explained

Palmitoyl Pentapeptide-4

A specific peptide studied in a small topical trial for crow's feet.

PeptideSkin conditioning

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Ingredient guide

What it is and what it does

Lysine, synthetic pentapeptide with serine, and threonine, hexadecanoyl derivatives

About this ingredient: EU CosIng ingredient registry (via Open Beauty Facts taxonomy) ↗

Peptide: An ingredient made from linked amino-acid units. The peptide name identifies a particular material, not a shared clinical effect for all peptides.
Skin conditioning: A broad cosmetic role for maintaining skin condition. It does not identify a particular clinical benefit.

Function definitions: European Commission ingredient function definitions (SCCNFP/0299/00, pages 16 to 20) ↗

Registry functions describe possible formulation roles, not results for a finished product. A dictionary entry is not an approval or a safety assessment.

A closer look

What the research shows

Human topical research

A double-blind trial divided 21 Indonesian women into palmitoyl pentapeptide-4 cream, acetylhexapeptide-3 cream or placebo groups for eight weeks. The authors described improvements in some participants and more favourable results with the pentapeptide cream.

What this does not tell us

Only seven participants were assigned to each group. The abstract does not provide concentration or robust numerical between-group effect estimates. This preliminary trial does not establish reliable wrinkle reduction for every peptide product.

Sources for this summary. PubMed 36909866 ↗

Research review checked Sep 30, 2026

Selected primary sources were reviewed for the existing research brief on 30 September 2026, with exact ingredient, route and combination limitations recorded. This was a bounded editorial review, not a systematic search.