Improvement in overall facial skin appearance is most rapidly achieved through enhanced moisturisation. Moisturisation occurs by increasing the water content of the epidermis, thereby improving skin texture and reducing the appearance of fine lines and superficial wrinkles.
The skin naturally achieves hydration through dermal glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) such as hyaluronic acid. Hyaluronic acid (HA), also known as hyaluronan, is a linear carbohydrate polysaccharide found in all living organisms. It is a highly hydrophobic substance. The human body contains 15 g of HA, with one-third residing in the skin (1). HA is multifunctional in the skin, modulating cellular immunity, regulating epidermal cell interactions, residing in extracellular matrix molecules, and absorbing high amounts of water. Six litres of water can be absorbed by 1 g of HA.
Key take-aways:
Topical hyaluronic acid in a serum formulation can increase skin hydration by 55%, as measured by corneometry. |
Topical hyaluronic acid skin hydration is visualized as improved skin plumping, smoothness, and overall skin appearance. |
Topical hyaluronic acid possesses an excellent skin tolerability profile. |
Topical hyaluronic acid is suitable for all Fitzpatrick skin types. |
HA can penetrate into the stratum corneum if it is of the correct size (2). Raman microimaging and other techniques are able to monitor the penetration of HAs of different molecular weights. HA with a low molecular weight of 20–300 kDa passes through the stratum corneum, while high molecular weight (1000–1400 kDa) HA is largely impermeable(1). This points to the importance of selecting HA of the proper molecular weight in effective skin formulations.
The size of the HA in (any) product ( a formulation containing hydrolyzed 50 kDa HA and 10–1000 kDa sodium hyaluronate) must allow it to penetrate into and through the stratum corneum. Then, the humectant ingredients produce an immediate increase in the water-holding capacity of the skin. The film-forming capabilities of the HA formulation created a smoothed skin surface with excellent humectant properties, producing appearance improvement. In addition, the improvement was cumulative, with increasing results over about 6 weeks.
HA increases significantly after 2 weeks of product application, with slight continued increases observed through weeks 4 and 6. These results indicate there was a significant amount of HA deposited on the skin from a good quality serum, which may account for the cumulative improvement observed over time. Research supports the clinical findings of increased skin hydration by documenting the increase in HA through skin swabbing. This increased skin hydration results in facial appearance improvement.
(The above in italics as I have modified the original which goes into some quite technical aspects)
HA is a valuable ingredient to improve facial appearance in women with poor skin plumpness, decreased skin hydration, and photoaging (3). It has been used both topically and orally for appearance improvement. HA is multifunctional, even possessing a role in immune modulation in disease (4) and as a post-procedure treatment in facial resurfacing. Changes occur in HA with aging such that a HA-based moisturiser might improve facial appearance through topical application. (5)
Skin hydration is one of the major concerns for skin health. Among ingredients that improve skin hydration, HA stands out with its ability to retain moisturisation. With an appropriately selected HA based on efficacy, a well-formulated HA serum can visually improve skin plumping and mechanistically improve skin hydration by 55% as measured by corneometry due to an increase in dermal hyaluronan in all Fitzpatrick skin types.
This is NOT MY OWN WORK - The above article is taken from:
Draelos ZD, Diaz I, Namkoong J, Wu J, Boyd T. Efficacy Evaluation of a Topical Hyaluronic Acid Serum in Facial Photoaging. Dermatol Ther (Heidelb). 2021 Aug;11(4):1385-1394. doi: 10.1007/s13555-021-00566-0. Epub 2021 Jun 26. PMID: 34176098; PMCID: PMC8322246.
References:
(1) Bukhari SNA, Roswandi NL, Waqas M, Habib H, Hussain F, Khan S, Sohail M, Ramli NA, Thu HE, Hussain Z. Hyaluronic acid, a promising skin rejuvenating biomedicine: a review of recent updates and pre-clinical and clinical investigations on cosmetic and nutricosmetic effects. Int J Biol Macromol. 2018;120(Pt B):1682–1695. doi: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2018.09.188.
(2) Pavicic T, Gauglitz GG, Lersch P, Schwach-Abdellaoui K, Malle B, Korting HC, Farwick M. Efficacy of cream-based novel formulations of hyaluronic acid of different molecular weights in anti-wrinkle treatment. J Drugs Dermatol. 2011;10(9):990–1000
(3) Papakonstantinou E, Roth M, Karakiulakis G. Hyaluronic acid, a key molecule in skin aging. Dermato-Endocrinol. 2012;4:253–258. doi: 10.4161/derm.21923.
(4) Nobel PW, Liang J, Jiang D. Hyaluronan as an immune regulator in human disease. Physiol Rev. 2011;2011(91):221–264. doi: 10.1152/physrev.00052.2009.
(5) Longas MO, Russell CS, He HY. Evidence for structural changes in dermatan sulfate and hyaluronic acid with aging. Carbohydr Res. 1987;159:127–136. doi: 10.1016/S0008-6215(00)90010-7.
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