Protective Effects of Topical Vitamin C Compound Mixtures against Ozone-Induced Damage in Human Skin

Environmental pollution is a challenge to modern society, especially in developing countries. It has been estimated that more than 90% of the urban population live with pollutant levels in excess of World Health Organization standard limits (World Health Organization, 2016). There are numerous studies supporting the noxious effect that O3 exposure can have on cutaneous tissues; however, a drawback in the research has been a lack of data derived from humans. Recently, a retrospective study from Xu et al. (2011), collecting data from almost 70,000 patients, was able to correlate the rising incidence of emergency department visits for urticaria, eczema, and contact dermatitis to an increased ambient level of ozone (O3) (Xu et al., 2011). The evidence cited in current literature suggests the need to further investigate the harmful effect of O3 on human skin and to evaluate possible measures to counteract its effect. For this reason, the objective of this study was to investigate whether O3 exposure, at a level that has been observed in polluted cities (0.8 ppm), could affect skin tissue responses and whether vitamin C compound mixtures can prevent O3-induced skin damag