Improvement of Mild Inflammatory Changes of the Facial Skin Induced by Winter Environment with Daily Applications of a Moisturizing Cream

Abstract

Objective: Based on our previous findings that, reflecting mild inflammation, the exposed facial skin shows much poorer functional properties of the stratum corneum (SC) in the dry and cold winter than those evaluated in the same individuals in the warm and humid summer time, we conducted a half-side test on the face to determine how the facial skin changes induced by a winter environment are improved by daily applications of a moisturizing cream as assessed by non-invasive biophysical and cytological methods. Methods: One side of the face of 16 young females was treated with a moisturizing cream twice daily for 6 weeks, with the other side serving as the non-treated control. Before treatment, 3 and 6 weeks after the start of the treatment, high-frequency conductance as a parameter of the skin surface hydration, transepidermal water loss (TEWL), a parameter of the water barrier function of the skin, and the skin surface lipid level were measured on the cheeks. Obtaining the SC from the skin surface by adhesive tape, interleukin (IL) 1α and IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1ra) in the SC and cornified envelope (CE) maturation were determined. Results: At first, baseline measurements conducted before treatment showed rather high TEWL values suggestive of an impaired skin barrier. During the treatment with the moisturizing cream, significantly higher conductance values and lower TEWL values were found on the moisturizer-treated side, accompanied by a decreasing IL-1ra/IL-1α ratio and immature CEs. Conclusion: These results suggested that the daily application of a moisturizing cream is effective in improving mild subclinical inflammation that is induced on the facial skin by the winter environment.

Reevaluation of the Importance of Barrier Dysfunction in the Nonlesional Dry Skin of Atopic Dermatitis Patients through the Use of Two Barrier Creams

“…This multiple effect of the CER cream may be based upon evidence that ceramide plays an essential role as a major sphingolipid of the stratum corneum in both the water reservoir [32][33][34] and in the barrier function [35] . While it should be noted that an ordinary moisturizing cream (the HIRU cream) was capable of attenuating to some degree the barrier disruption of the nonlesional skin of AD patients, a weak barrier-replenishing effect, even by an ordinary moisturizing cream, has been reported in AD [6] and in nonatopic and xerotic skin [36] , although the detailed mechanism(s) remain to be clarifi ed.…”

Gender-Related Differences in the Physiology of the Stratum Corneum

“…The room temperature was 24°C and the relative humidity 65%. The volunteers were prohibited to use any cosmetic products on this area during the week before the experiment to avoid any influence of these products on physiological parameters, as reported in the literature [21, 22]. …”

Characterization of Surfactant-Induced Skin Damage through Barrier Recovery Induced by Pseudoacylceramides

“…Such cutaneous reactions induced by surfactant treatment are mainly accompanied by the increased expression of inflammatory molecules and intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1) [3]as well as by epidermal hyperplasia [4, 5]. This reproduces the effect of exposing facial skin to dry and cold winter [6]. Some of these biological reactions have been proven to be derived from direct interactions between epidermal keratinocytes and surfactant molecules using an in vitro system of cultured keratinocytes [7].…”