A daily skincare regimen with a unique ceramide and filaggrin formulation rapidly improves chronic xerosis, pruritus, and quality of life in older adults.

A skin care regimen which significantly improved atopic dermatitis and pruritus was evaluated for its efficacy and acceptability in senior subjects diagnosed with xerosis who also suffer from pruritus. This was an open-label, single-center study, designed to evaluate the daily use of a skin care regimen for 15 days. Assessments were made at baseline, day 8 and day 15 for visual skin dryness, transepidermal water loss (TEWL), hydration, desquamation, subject-perceived itch and quality of life (QoL). Twenty-five subjects, ages 60-73 years, had significantly improved skin visual dryness, hydration, desquamation, itch and QoL at days 8 and 15, relative to baseline (P < .05). TEWL was improved, though not significantly. Subjects expressed a high degree of satisfaction with the results. This regimen provides geriatric patients with an easily incorporated skin routine to help improve a common symptom of aging skin which negatively affects QoL.

Urea: A Clinically Oriented Overview from Bench to Bedside.

Urea is an important hygroscopic component of the epidermis, where it participates in the maintenance of skin hydration as part of the skin's source of natural moisturizing factor (NMF) in the outer most layers. Xerotic skin, which is frequently characterized as NMF-deficient, is a unifying trait of dermatoses such as atopic dermatitis (AD), psoriasis, and ichthyosis vulgaris. The reduced hygroscopic potential of pathologically dry skin leads to unregulated transepidermal water loss (TEWL), epidermal hyperproliferation, and inhibited desquamation; all which clinically translate to hyperkeratotic and possibly pruritic skin. Common underlying etiologies link these dermatoses to aberrant expression of genes encoding epidermal structural and catalytic proteins. Intervention of dry skin pathologies with topical moisturizer formulations is a foundational management strategy. For over a century urea-containing formulations have been used in a concentration-dependent manner to restore skin hydration, thin hyperkeratosis, debride dystrophic nails, and enhance topical drug penetration. Recently, urea's role in skin hydration and repair has expanded to include regulation of epidermal genes necessary for proper barrier function. Taken together, urea's versatility in topical formulations and broad range of therapeutic mechanism highlights its utility to clinicians and benefit to patients.

J Drugs Dermatol. 2016;15(5):633-639.

Managing Occupational Irritant Contact Dermatitis Using a Two-Step Skincare Regimen Designed to Prevent Skin Damage and Support Skin Recovery.

Occupational irritant contact dermatitis (ICD) affecting the hands is a common and difficult-to-manage condition. Occupations that necessitate contact with harsh chemicals, use of alcohol-based disinfectants, and frequent hand washing elevate the risk of ICD. Management strategies that do not adequately prevent accumulated damage and repair skin, can develop into chronic dermatoses which negatively impact work productivity and quality of life. A 2-step skin-care regimen (Excipial Daily Protection Hand Cream (EP) and Excipial Rapid Repair Hand Cream (ER), Galderma Laboratories, L.P.) has been developed as a daily-use management strategy to protect and repair vulnerable hands. The protective barrier cream is formulated with aluminum chlorohydrate and designed for pre-exposure application to enhance the skin's natural protective barrier and minimize excessive moisture while wearing protective gloves. The repair cream, a lipid-rich formulation, is intended for post-exposure application to rehydrate and facilitate the skin's natural healing process. The results of 3 clinical studies highlighted in this review demonstrate how the use of a 2-step skin-care regimen offers a greater protective effect against ICD than the use of barrier cream alone, and also how the formulation of the barrier cream used in these studies helps minimize the occlusion effect caused by gloves and does not interfere with the antibacterial efficacy of an alcohol-based hand sanitizer. This 2-step skin-care regimen is effectively designed to manage and minimize the risk of ICD development in a variety of patients and provides clinicians an additional tool for helping patients manage ICD. J Drugs Dermatol. 2016;15(12):1504-1510.

Long-term subcutaneous microdialysis sampling and qRT-PCR of MCP-1, IL-6 and IL-10 in freely-moving rats.

Cytokines are important mediators of the wound healing response. However, sampling of cytokines from the interstitial fluid at a healing wound site in experimental animals is a challenge. Microdialysis sampling is an in vivo collection option for this purpose as it permits continuous sampling, while remaining contiguous with the wound microenvironment. The polymeric membrane of the microdialysis probe is a foreign material thus allowing a unique approach to sample cytokines generated during a foreign body response (FBR). The focus of these studies was to use microdialysis sampling to collect cytokines from a microdialysis probe implant site in a rat model of a FBR up to 6 days post implantation. Fluorescent bead-based immunoassays (Luminex™) were used to quantify monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1/CCL2), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and interleukin-10 (IL-10) in the dialysates. Quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was used to cross validate the protein measurements obtained via micorodialysis sampling. A histological examination of tissue was also performed to assess the progression in leukocyte extravasation and collagen deposition surrounding implanted probes. Our findings demonstrate that in vivo microdialysis sampling can be used to collect temporal concentrations of cytokines which are consistent with wound healing and the development of a FBR.