Skincare Mondays | 1 Year Study Shows Retinol Benefits Do Not Plateau

Retinoids are a mainstay of dermatologic therapy. When properly formulated, retinoids available over the counter offer consumers an easily accessible, reasonably priced option.  Retinol has been shown to improve fine lines and wrinkles, hyperpigmentation, skin roughness, and the appearance of photoaged skin in short term studies. This study looks at the efficacy and safety of continued use of a stabilized retinol formula, showing that the skin remains responsive to topical retinoids even with prolonged use.

Pivotal Study: Clinically shown to improve photodamaged skin with long term use

One-Year Topical Stabilized Retinol Treatment Improves Photodamaged Skin in a Double-blind, Vehicle-controlled study. Journal of Drugs in Dermatology 2015

Purpose:           

To assess the efficacy and safety of 0.1% stabilized retinol on photodamaged skin during a one-year treatment.

Design:            

Two 52-week, double-blind, vehicle-controlled studies.

Main study: 62 subjects applied either a stabilized retinol formulation or its vehicle to the full face.

Second exploratory study: evaluated histological/histochemical markers in 12 subjects after 52 weeks of either retinol or vehicle use on contralateral dorsal forearms.

Results:             

Clinical results show that the skin does not stop responding to the benefits of retinol

The retinol group showed significant photodamage improvement over vehicle at all timepoints during the study.

• • 36% improvement in overall photodamage
  • 44% improvement in crow’s feet fine lines
  • 84% improvement in mottled pigmentation
  • Over 50% of subjects showed +2 grade of improvement in several wrinkle and pigmentation parameters

Continuous use of retinol significantly increases collagen production, epidermal cell proliferation and hyaluronic acid.

Conclusion:      

This study confirms that a stabilized retinol (0.1%) formulation can significantly improve the signs of photoaging, and improvements in photodamage continue with prolonged use.

We encourage all healthcare practitioners to download, print and display this infographic in waiting areas and exam rooms, and share with patients.

Reference:

1. 1. Randhawa M, Rossetti D, Leyden JJ, Fantasia J, Zeichner J, Cula GO, Southall M, Tucker-Samaras S. One-year topical stabilized retinol treatment improves photodamaged skin in a double-blind, vehicle-controlled trial. J Drugs Dermatol. 2015 Mar;14(3):271-80. PMID: 25738849.

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