BACKGROUND: Topical application of oils and oil-based formulations is common practice in skin care for both adults and infants. Only limited knowledge however is available regarding skin penetration and occlusive potential of oils and common methods for measuring skin moisturization fall short when it comes to the moisturizing effect of oils. OBJECTIVE: In this study we used in vivo confocal Raman microspectroscopy to test the efficacy of paraffin oil (mineral oil) and two vegetable oils in terms of skin penetration and occlusion. Petrolatum was used as a positive control. METHODS: The products were applied topically on the forearms of nine volunteers and seven infants and Raman spectra were acquired before and at 30 and 90 min following application. Depth concentration profiles for lipid and water were calculated from the Raman spectra. Skin occlusion was assessed from the amount of stratum corneum (SC) swelling measured from the water concentration profiles. RESULTS: The paraffin oil and the vegetable oils penetrate the top layers of the SC with similar concentration profiles, a result that was confirmed both for adult and infant skin. The three oils tested demonstrated modest SC swelling (10-20%) compared to moderate swelling (40-60%) for petrolatum. CONCLUSION: These data indicate that there is no statistical difference between the paraffin oil and vegetable oils in terms of skin penetration and skin occlusion. The results for petrolatum show that in vivo confocal Raman microspectroscopy is sensitive and specific enough to measure both lipid uptake and skin occlusion events following topical application.
BACKGROUND: Topical application of oils and oil-based formulations is common practice in skin care for both adults and infants. Only limited knowledge however is available regarding skin penetration and occlusive potential of oils and common methods for measuring skin moisturization fall short when it comes to the moisturizing effect of oils. OBJECTIVE: In this study we used in vivo confocal Raman microspectroscopy to test the efficacy of paraffin oil (mineral oil) and two vegetable oils in terms of skin penetration and occlusion. Petrolatum was used as a positive control. METHODS: The products were applied topically on the forearms of nine volunteers and seven infants and Raman spectra were acquired before and at 30 and 90 min following application. Depth concentration profiles for lipid and water were calculated from the Raman spectra. Skin occlusion was assessed from the amount of stratum corneum (SC) swelling measured from the water concentration profiles. RESULTS: The paraffin oil and the vegetable oils penetrate the top layers of the SC with similar concentration profiles, a result that was confirmed both for adult and infant skin. The three oils tested demonstrated modest SC swelling (10-20%) compared to moderate swelling (40-60%) for petrolatum. CONCLUSION: These data indicate that there is no statistical difference between the paraffin oil and vegetable oils in terms of skin penetration and skin occlusion. The results for petrolatum show that in vivo confocal Raman microspectroscopy is sensitive and specific enough to measure both lipid uptake and skin occlusion events following topical application.
Authors: Ana-Maria Pena; Xueqin Chen; Isaac J Pence; Thomas Bornschlögl; Sinyoung Jeong; Sébastien Grégoire; Gustavo S Luengo; Philippe Hallegot; Peyman Obeidy; Amin Feizpour; Kin F Chan; Conor L Evans Journal: Adv Drug Deliv Rev Date: 2020-03-23 Impact factor: 15.470
Authors: Mark D A van Logtestijn; Elisa Domínguez-Hüttinger; Georgios N Stamatas; Reiko J Tanaka Journal: PLoS One Date: 2015-02-11 Impact factor: 3.240
Authors: Cristhianne Moraes; Jorge L V Anjos; Monica Maruno; Antonio Alonso; Pedro Rocha-Filho Journal: Asian J Pharm Sci Date: 2017-10-12 Impact factor: 6.598
Authors: Marc A Masen; Aaron Chung; Joanna U Dawczyk; Zach Dunning; Lydia Edwards; Christopher Guyott; Thomas A G Hall; Rachel C Januszewski; Shaoli Jiang; Rikeen D Jobanputra; Kabelan J Karunaseelan; Nikolaos Kalogeropoulos; Maria R Lima; C Sebastian Mancero Castillo; Idris K Mohammed; Manoj Murali; Filip P Paszkiewicz; Magdalena Plotczyk; Catalin I Pruncu; Euan Rodgers; Felix Russell; Richard Silversides; Jennifer C Stoddart; Zhengchu Tan; David Uribe; Kian K Yap; Xue Zhou; Ravi Vaidyanathan Journal: PLoS One Date: 2020-09-24 Impact factor: 3.240