(FORTUNE Magazine) – As youth fades from the faces of the 78 million baby-boomers, sales of creams that supposedly help skin look younger have skyrocketed. Since 1985, skin-care sales have surged 50%, to $3.7 billion, according to Merrill Lynch security analyst Deepak Raj. The vainest boomers worry about facial lines as soon they hit 30, and all but a few of those born between 1946 and 1964 have passed that magic age. It's no wonder that Line Preventor, a gel made by Estee Lauder's Prescriptives brand for the face, eyes, and throat, is a hot seller. Boomers also flock to Unilever's Elizabeth Arden counter at stores like Macy's to buy Ceramide capsules, which allegedly help reduce moisture loss. When Gale Hayman, co- creator of Giorgio perfume, started her own company four years ago, she expected her new fragrance to be the star performer. Instead, sales took off for her Youth-Lift lotion, touted as helping smooth and ''fill in'' those < unwelcome lines. Reducteur Rides, a wrinkle smoother made by Cosmair's Biotherm, is another top seller. Hard hit by the recession, a number of the boomers are trading down from some of these pricey brands that department stores sell for between $35 and $65. Instead they are heading for drugstores that offer less expensive products. L'Oreal's Plenitude line, for example, which includes a firming facial serum and anti-aging creams for the face and eyes, is priced from $7 to $15, and it has been flying off drugstore shelves. Cosmetics consultant Allan Mottus notes that Procter & Gamble's Oil of Olay, which now includes a sun protectant, is a hot item again at $12 a bottle. Says Hayman: ''The whole youth generation philosophy of the baby-boomers is finished. They have become the concerned generation.'' Women aren't the only ones battling wrinkles. Research on males is skimpy, but anecdotal evidence suggests that more men are dipping into the facial cosmetics of their wives or significant others and helping themselves to what they find there.