An In vivo Comparison of Biomimetic vs. Traditional Skin Moisturization

The aim of this study was to determine whether a biomimetic cream can deliver superior moisturisation to the skin of human volunteers aged over 60, compared to the effects of a conventional moisturiser containing high levels of petrolatum and mineral oil. The study design included a 4-hour skin hydration trial, a mini-regression study and a self-evaluation study. The instrumental methods used were skin hydration measured by corneometer and skin pH evaluation. The results have shown that providing the elderly skin with lipids that make up the natural skin barrier had a significantly higher effect on the skin hydration levels than the treatment with a commercial product containing standard occlusive agents

Comparing the rates of absorption and weight loss during a desorption test using near infrared spectroscopy

The importance of determining skin hydration has over the years prompt the development of many instruments and methods, specifically designed to assess this parameter or water contents especially in the stratum corneum, and have greatly matured to suit different anatomical sites and measure multiple attributes. Of those, Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) has gained wide interest as a precise, safe, fast and noninvasive technique for determining skin hydration due to its high sensitivity to hydrogen bonding and ability to measure the amount of water in skin directly using the intensities of overtone and combination bands of OH and HOH water bonds occurring in the NIR region, that are good indicators of the state of skin hydration. This paper reports near infrared spectrophotometric measurements using a highly sophisticated spectrophotometer in the region of 1000-2500 nm to study the water uptake and dehydration properties of skin in vitro using samples of porcine skin. Initial results of pure liquid water and skin samples have clearly displayed the prominent bands associated with water content, and desorption tests have been able to verify changes in these bands associated with water content, although a clear correlation between the rates of weight loss and absorbance loss at various hydration periods has not yet been established. These preliminary results are expected to further explain the relationship between water and skin, and its role within, in hope to aid the future development of a portable instrument based on near infrared spectroscopy that would be capable of directly measuring skin hydration and/or water content in a fast and noninvasive manner

The Importance of Hydration in Wound Healing: Reinvigorating the clinical perspective

Balancing skin hydration levels is important as any disruption in skin integrity will result in disturbance of the dermal water balance. The discovery that a moist wound healing environment actively supports the healing response when compared to a dry environment highlights the importance of water and good hydration levels for optimal wound healing. The benefits of “wet” or “hyper-hydrated” wound healing appears to offer benefits that are similar to those offered by moist wound healing over wounds healing in a dry environment. This suggests that the presence of free water itself during wound healing may not be detrimental to healing but that any adverse effects of wound fluid on tissues is more likely related to the biological components contained within chronic wound exudate (e.g. elevated protease levels). Appropriate dressings applied to wounds must be able to absorb not only the exudate but also retain this excess fluid together with its protease solutes while concurrently preventing desiccation. This is particularly important in the case of chronic wounds where peri-wound skin barrier properties are compromised and there is increased permeation across the injured skin barrier. This review discusses the importance of appropriate levels of hydration in skin with a particular focus on the need for optimal hydration levels for effective healing

Measurement of dermal water content using a multi-wavelength optical sensor

Skin hydration is crucial for overall skin health. Maintaining skin hydration levels preserves skin integrity and prevents tissue damage which can lead to several debilitating conditions. Moreover, continuous monitoring of skin hydration can contribute to the diagnosis or management of serious diseases. For instance, sugar imbalance in diabetes mellitus and kidney disease can lead to the loss of bodily fluids and cause dry skin. Therefore, continuous, accurate and non-intrusive monitoring of skin hydration would present a remarkable opportunity for maintaining overall health and wellbeing. There are various techniques to assess skin hydration. Electrical based Corneometers are currently the gold standard in clinical and non-clinical practice. However, these techniques have a number of limitations. In particular, they are costly, sizeable, intrusive, and operator dependent. Recent research has demonstrated that near infrared spectroscopy could be used as a non-intrusive alternative for the measurement of skin water content. The present paper reports the development and in-vitro validation of a noninvasive, portable, skin hydration sensor. The results indicate that the developed sensor can deliver reliable measurements of skin water content

In Vitro and In Vivio Evaluation of a Moisture Treatment Cream Containing Three Critical Elements of Natural Skin Moisturization

Objectives To evaluate skin barrier and hydration effects of a new rebalancing moisture treatment (TRMT) and to assess efficacy and tolerability in subjects with photodamaged skin. Methods In an epidermal skin model, tissues (n = 5/group) were topically treated with 25 µL of TRMT, 25 µL of a market‐leading moisturizer (MLM), or untreated for 60 minutes. Hydration was measured at 0, 15, and 30 minutes. Tissues were harvested for gene expression analysis of markers associated with skin barrier and hydration: Claudin (CLD), Aquaporin (AQP), Hyaluronic Acid Syntheses (HAS), and Hyaluronidase (HYAL). A clinical study evaluated twice‐daily application of TRMT, assessing changes in fine lines/wrinkles, brightness, texture, erythema, and tolerability from baseline through week 8. Hydration was measured using electrical impedance. Results TRMT and MLM demonstrated significant increases in hydration vs untreated tissue at each timepoint (P \u3c .005), with greater hydration effects observed for TRMT vs MLM. TRMT‐treated tissues demonstrated greater expression of CLD, AQP, and HA, and reduced expression of HYAL vs untreated and MLM‐treated tissues. Twice‐daily application of TRMT demonstrated significant improvements at 2 weeks in fine lines/wrinkles (P \u3c .001), brightness (P \u3c .0001), texture (P \u3c .0004), and hydration (P \u3c .004). At 8 weeks, statistically significant improvements were achieved in all categories. Conclusion In an epidermal skin model, TRMT demonstrated significant increases in hydration, greater hydration effects, and expression of key markers associated with skin barrier and hydration vs a MLM. Twice‐daily application of TRMT was well tolerated and resulted in early, significant improvements in hydration and visible improvements in skin brightness, texture, fine lines/wrinkles, and erythema at 8 weeks

Nutritional and antioxidant status by skin types among female adults

This study was performed to analyze the relationship among sebum · hydration content of the skin and nutritional intake, serum antioxidant minerals and antioxidant enzymes, and lipid peroxide concentration in 50 female subjects in their 20s. The skin type was divided into Dry Skin, Mixed Skin, and Oily Skin, and the dry skin group was 14%, the mixed skin group was 56%, and the oily skin group was 30% of all subjects. The average age of the subjects was 20.54 ± 1.43 years and BMI was 20.66. The average sebum content in each group was in the order of T-zone>forehead>chin>cheek. In case of the T-zone, a significant difference between the dry skin group and the oily skin group was observed, suggesting that the area is most sensitive to sebum content by skin type. Significant differences were not observed in energy and nutrient intakes by skin type. Serum concentrations of antioxidant minerals such as copper, manganese, zinc and selenium were not significantly different among the groups, but the dry skin group tended to be higher than the oily skin group. Serum catalase was significantly higher in the oily skin group (P < 0.05), and MDA was significantly higher in the mixed skin group (P < 0.05). The hydration of the cheek and serum zinc showed a negative correlation, and the sebum content of the cheek and GPx showed a significant negative correlation. The hydration of the forehead and serum copper showed a significant negative correlation, and the hydration of the forehead and GPx showed a significant positive correlation. The hydration of the chin and serum SOD showed a significant positive correlation. With these results, it is considered that the basic condition of nutritional status can affect the skin health

Variables influencing the frictional behaviour of in vivo human skin

In the past decades, skin friction research has focused on determining which variables are important to affect the frictional behaviour of in vivo human skin. Until now, there is still limited knowledge on these variables. This study has used a large dataset to identify the effect of variables on the human skin, subject characteristics and environmental conditions on skin friction. The data are obtained on 50 subjects (34 male, 16 female). Friction measurements represent the friction between in vivo human skin and an aluminium sample, assessed on three anatomical locations. The coefficient of friction increased significantly (p<0.05) with increasing age, increasing ambient temperature and increasing relative air humidity. A significant inversely proportional relationship was found between friction and both the amount of hair present on the skin and the height of the subject. Other outcome variables in this study were the hydration of the skin and the skin temperatur

The investigation of the skin biophysical measurements focusing on daily activities, skin care habits, and gender differences

Background Skin, as a protective barrier to exogenous substances, can be modulated by various internal and external factors that can affect its functional state. In order to prevent the early symptoms and signs of diseases of the skin, frequent skin health assessment should be performed. The aims of the study were to evaluate four skin properties of transepidermal water loss (TEWL), hydration, elasticity, and pigmentation using a non-invasive skin assessment tool, DermaLab Combo®, and also to determine possible factors that may influence skin condition. Methods DermaLab® Combo was used to measure TEWL, hydration, pigmentation, and elasticity on the forearm of volunteers by using different probes. In this study, four parameters were observed to reflect the health of the skin in 100 volunteers. Results There were significant differences (P < 0.05) between TEWL, hydration, pigmentation, and elasticity in different genders on the same anatomical site of the forearm. Female subjects have a higher average value of TEWL, hydration, and elasticity compared to male subjects. The differences may be due to an individual's daily activity and use of skin care products as well as environmental factors. The use of moisturiser and drinking lots of water may keep the skin hydrated and delay the process of skin ageing as shown by the better hydration and elasticity observed (P < 0.05). Conclusion In this study, it can be concluded that DermaLab® Combo is a reliable skin analysis instrument that offers high precision, accuracy, and reproducibility for all the measuring parameters. It has also been found that daily activities and habits influence skin condition as reflected by the measurement of these biophysical skin parameters

Human Face Mapping Based on TEWL, Hydration and Ultrasound

Biophysical properties of the skin vary depending on the skin location. Such properties include skin structure, density of skin layers, pH, temperature, hydration and Transepidermal Water Loss (TEWL).Modern technologies and quantitative methods allow reading and analysing the skin properties using in-vivo based analysis. One goal of such analysis is partitioning the skin in areas with similar properties, which is referred as mapping. The purpose of our study, also the novelty of the project, is mapping of the facial skin in terms of TEWL, hydration and skin layer thickness, as well as measuring the effect of physical exercise on facial skin; where possible, effect of sex and age were also considered. TEWL was measured with AquaFlux, skin layer thickness was measured with Episcan high resolution ultrasound imaging, and skin hydration was measured with Epsilon. Our study reveals material difference of TEWL between the facial sites being analysed; the largest differences were noted between the lips and the neck. It was found that skin hydration levels decrease with the advancement of age. Skin hydration readings reveal larger general effect of exercise for females, and strongest effect for males observed on the nose. Skin ultrasound images were used in two ways. First, face was mapped in terms of the thickness of the individual skin layers and such mapping was found to be different for each layer. Secondly, the differences between the sites in terms of thickness were quantified using Welch test, where age was also found to be a factor. Several Machine Learning-based classifiers of the skin location were also trained, which are based on the cross-sectional image with moderate positive outcome. The study showed that the combination of TEWL, Epsilon and Episcan provides useful information about skin health. The study also showed variations in the values for different facial skin sites of several skin samples, which was likely due to the degree of corneocyte formation, the lipid contents of the Stratum Corneum (SC), skin temperature, damaged barrier function, bodily health and skin blood flow

An in vivo comparative study on ageing skin: bio-mimetic versus traditional approach to skin moisturisation

Skin dryness is a common condition in elderly individuals. The two main mechanisms to cosmetically alleviate this state rely on the effects of humectants and occlusive substances, mostly in combination. However, products nowadays aim to go beyond the simple humectant and occlusive effects and to deliver ‘moisturising actives’, such as skin-identical lipids, natural moisturising factor (NMF) components, lipid precursors, peptides and amino acids. A relatively recent approach to increasing skin moisturisation is the bio-mimetic mechanism, i.e. using active ingredients with skin-identical lipids and lamellar structure. This study has demonstrated that providing the skin with lipids identical to those that make up the natural skin barrier can improve the skin hydration to a greater extent than a conventional o/w emulsion based on occlusive materials and humectants. In addition, it suggests that using bio-mimetic moisturisers is an effective and long-lasting method to elevate dry skin condition in people over 60