THE EFFICACY OF DIFFERENT MOISTURIZERS ON BARRIER RECOVERY IN HAIRLESS MICE EVALUATED BY NONINVASIVE BIOENGINEERING METHODS - A MODEL TO SELECT THE POTENTIALLY MOST EFFECTIVE PRODUCT

Moisturizers (emollients) are used frequently on normal and diseased s kin. However, only few studies have examined their effects in dynamic situations and in more clinically relevant settings. We evaluated the effect of 4 commonly used products in a hairless mice model after acut e skin barrier perturbation with acetone. The efficacy was evaluated b y measurement of the transepidermal water loss (TEWL) and electrical c onductance at various time intervals during barrier repair. The test p roducts were compared with acetone-treated air-exposed controls allowe d to recover otherwise normally and with a known irritant product, chl orhexidine cream 1%. Locobase(R) was the most effective product in cor recting barrier function and significantly improved barrier function d uring early stages of barrier recovery (<6 h) without interfering with late stages of barrier recovery (>6 h). The irritant control product, chlorhexidine cream 1%, delayed barrier recovery in the late stages. The model makes it possible to evaluate the combined effects of exogen ous and endogenous components on barrier repair and to select the pote ntially most effective products before performing more cumbersome and time-consuming field studies. (C) Munksgaard, 1997.