A clinicopathological study of the effects of topical retinyl propionate cream in skin photoageing

The clinical and histological effects of retinal propionate cream (a retiny l ester) on extrinsic skin ageing (photoageing) in man were assessed in a d ouble-blind randomized placebo-controlled study of 80 subjects, individual parameters of this being assessed for each treatment site (face, dorsal rig ht forearm and hand, dorsal left forearm and hand) at intervals throughout the study, while skin surface replicas from sites of fine wrinkling around the eve and skin biopsies from the dorsal right forearm were also regularly reviewed throughout. Seventy-five subjects completed an initial 24-week: s tudy period, following which 60 elected to continue for a further 24 weeks. Although minimal trends towards improvement occurred, no statistically sig nificant differences between the effects of the retinyl propionate cream an d the placebo preparation were apparent for any of the clinical, histologic al or profilometric parameters of skin photoageing; however, in the very fe w subjects affected, actinic keratoses in the active group were reduced vir tually to zero by week 48.