Beneficial effects of a skin tolerance‐tested moisturizing cream on the barrier function in experimentally‐elicited irritant and allergic contact dermatitis

Abstract

In experimentally-induced irritant (ICD) and allergic (ACD) contact dermatitis, an oil-in-water (o/w) cream was applied to investigate its effects on a disturbed barrier function compared to untreated physiological barrier repair. Transepidermal water loss (TEWL) measurements were performed. Before the start of the experiments, the skin tolerance of the cream was examined, revealing the non-irritating characteristics of the ingredients and the absence of any contact allergic patch test reaction. In the ICD study, sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) patches were applied to the forearms of young female volunteers. Consequently, it was observed that repeated cream application (14 days, 2x/day) significantly improved the TEWL of SLS-damaged skin, leading to a complete recovery on day 15. In the ACD study, disruption of skin barrier function was obtained by a nickel-mediated contact allergy patch (CAP) test. The cream was then applied 2x/day for 4 consecutive days. Assessment of TEWL clearly showed that recovery of the disrupted skin significantly improved after cream application in comparison to untreated barrier repair.

Protective Effects of Different Marigold <i>(Calendula officinalis L.)</i> and Rosemary Cream Preparations against Sodium-Lauryl-Sulfate-Induced Irritant Contact Dermatitis

“…All effects in the tewameter measurements of extract preparations were less pronounced compared to pure base cream DAC and some preparations even led to higher TEWL than pure base cream. This may be explained by the fact that emollients per se have a strong effect on barrier function repair in diseased skin as well as in experimentally induced ICD like in the present study [15][16][17] . Another reason for the strong effect of emollients alone regardless of the content of extracts may be that parts of the cream may remain on the test fi eld and lead to a physical barrier, resulting in a diminished SLS penetration into the epidermis and therefore less pronounced barrier disruption.…”

Using Skin Models to Assess the Effects of a Protection Cream on Skin Barrier Function

“…As it has already been shown in other studies, the protective effect of some emulsions cannot only be based on a zur Mühlen/Klotz/Weimans/Veeger/ Thörner/Diener/Hermann physical effect [15,16]. From these observations, the important question arises as to how the protective effect of the multiple emulsion is achieved.…”

Effectiveness of Barrier Creams against Irritant Contact Dermatitis

“…By contrast to Wang et al [64], some authors suggest that BCs should only be used for exposure to mild irritants (water, detergents, organic solvents or cutting oils) because they cannot neutralize a high dose of irritant [13,61]. Indeed, after saturation, the agents sequestered in the layer of cream continue to penetrate the skin [18,28] if the substances are not inactivated by BCs.…”

“…Indeed, after saturation, the agents sequestered in the layer of cream continue to penetrate the skin [18,28] if the substances are not inactivated by BCs. This explains the potential of some BCs to induce contact dermatitis [4] and to increase the skin's susceptibility to irritants [61]. As may be seen in table 3, protection against toluene is very low and must be improved in the future.…”

“…For the latter, it is also suggested that biophysical studies may provide information on changes in the skin condition before any visible dermatological changes occur [52] while other authors believe that clinical scoring is more appropriate at work [36,60]. According to several authors, the measure of transepidermal water loss is the best parameter of the barrier's alteration, even if some substances alter this parameter only slightly [22,35,36,61,62]. …”