Overview
ABSTRACT
Cosmetics are applied on healthy skin, and claim actions of cleaning, perfuming, or protection (definition of the French public health code). At the initiative of some dermatologists, scientists and industrial operators, research in cosmetology has developed, and allows their efficacy to be determined scientifically, through more and more advanced methods, in the laboratory or directly on humans in clinical studies. This article reports the main techniques together with constraints to be taken into account in the science of skin measurement, called "cutaneous biometrology".
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Read the articleAUTHORS
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Thomas LIHOREAU : Engineer - Center d'Études et de Recherche sur le Tégument (CERT), Dermatology Department, Besançon University Hospital - Clinical Investigation Center (CIC INSERM 1431) Besançon
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Céline VIENNET : PhD, research engineer - Cutaneous Engineering and Biology Laboratory, INSERM UMR1098, FED4234 SFR IBCT, University of Franche-Comté Besançon
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Ahmed ELKHYAT : PhD, research engineer - Center d'Études et de Recherche sur le Tégument (CERT), Dermatology Department, Besançon University Hospital
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Adeline JEUDY : PhD research engineer - Center d'Études et de Recherche sur le Tégument (CERT), Dermatology Department, Besançon University Hospital
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Ferial FANIAN : Medical doctor MD, Docteur en sciences PhD - Center d'Études et de Recherche sur le Tégument (CERT), Dermatology Department, Besançon University Hospital
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Sophie MAC-MARY : PhD, research engineer - Skinexigence SAS Besançon
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Jean-Marie SAINTHILLIER : PhD, research engineer - Skinexigence SAS Besançon
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Carol COURDEROT-MASUYER : PhD, research engineer - Bioexigence SAS Besançon
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Sophie ROBIN : PhD, research engineer - Bioexigence SAS Besançon
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Youssef LBOUTOUNNE : PhD, research engineer - Proviskin SAS Besançon
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Gwenael ROLIN : PhD, research engineer - Clinical Investigation Center (CIC INSERM 1431) Besançon - Cutaneous Engineering and Biology Laboratory, INSERM UMR1098, FED4234 SFR IBCT, University of Franche-Comté Besançon
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Philippe HUMBERT : Medical doctor MD, Professeur des Universités PH, Praticien hospitalier PH and Docteur en sciences PhD - Center d'Études et de Recherche sur le Tégument (CERT), Dermatology Department, Besançon University Hospital - Clinical Investigation Center (CIC INSERM 1431) Besançon - Cutaneous Engineering and Biology Laboratory, INSERM UMR1098, FED4234 SFR IBCT, University of Franche-Comté Besançon
INTRODUCTION
The skin is not only the first barrier against external aggression, but also the visible envelope of the human body. In this sense, beauty products and especially the cosmetics applied to it carry the hopes of women and men, mainly against ageing.
The claims ("allegations") made for these products and their constituents must be backed up by tolerance and safety assessments (which are not covered here), as well as efficacy evaluations at various stages of development: from raw materials tested in the laboratory, in order to understand the mechanisms of action or apprehend toxicological risks, through formulation, right up to use tests on finished products "in vivo", or even "in humans".
Over the past thirty years, research into cutaneous tissue has evolved considerably, both in terms of fundamental knowledge and developments for clinical applications. It has led to numerous discoveries about the structure and physiological and pathological functioning of this complex, three-layered composition: epidermis, dermis, hypodermis... This research has also found a formidable field of application in cosmetology, and can now provide solid, scientific proof of efficiency.
Effectiveness is assessed by comparing the results obtained with the expected results (objectives), both quantitatively and qualitatively. Its evaluation thus involves a number of measures designed to assess a product's ability to produce a desired effect, such as an anti-wrinkle effect in a given population.
This article takes a look at the objectivations currently available in the laboratory and in the clinic, with a view to objectively evaluating, and even measuring and quantifying, clinical evidence of efficacy in humans. Without being exhaustive, it presents some of the main tools and methods used in dermatological and cosmetological research, first in the laboratory on skin cells or models, then in humans: researchers and dermatologists are now familiar with specific terms such as "reconstructed skin", "skin penetration", "hydration index", "insensible water loss", "wettability", "viscoelasticity" or "chromametry". New technologies are also being developed, enabling us to reproduce reliable skin models, propose innovative therapeutic solutions, and even see beneath the skin live, in different cross-sectional planes, in three dimensions, and non-invasively.
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KEYWORDS
biometrology | dermatogy | clinical studies
Overview of cosmetics effects on skin, and how to measure them
Laboratory-tested efficacy
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