Sustained improvement with prolonged topical tretinoin (retinoic acid) for photoaged skin

Pilot Ultrastructural Evaluation of Human Preauricular Skin Before and After High-Energy Pulsed Carbon Dioxide Laser Treatment

“…[15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24] Reversal of the ultrastructural changes seen in photodamaged skin with the use of these topical agents has also been demonstrated. 8,15,20,23,24 ␣-Hydroxy acid-treated keratinocytes appear to be connected by fewer desmosomes and exhibit less clumping of tonofibrils. Both ␣-hydroxy acids and topical tretinoin seem to increase the numbers of anchoring fibrils at the dermoepidermal junction of treated photoaged skin.…”

“…Both ␣-hydroxy acids and topical tretinoin seem to increase the numbers of anchoring fibrils at the dermoepidermal junction of treated photoaged skin. 15,20,23 Normalization of the structure and organization of papillary dermal collagen, reduction in the amount of degenerated microfibrillar material, and increased activity and numbers of fibroblasts have also been described after treatment with topical tretinoin. 20,24,25 Dramatic clinical and histologic improvement in photoaged skin may also be produced with medium-depth and deep chemical peeling agents and dermabrasion.…”

“…15,20,23 Normalization of the structure and organization of papillary dermal collagen, reduction in the amount of degenerated microfibrillar material, and increased activity and numbers of fibroblasts have also been described after treatment with topical tretinoin. 20,24,25 Dramatic clinical and histologic improvement in photoaged skin may also be produced with medium-depth and deep chemical peeling agents and dermabrasion. [26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37] When properly performed, both procedures result in architectural and cytologic normalization of the epidermis, as well as an expanded papillary and reticular dermis composed of dense, parallel arrays of collagen bundles, otherwise known as the dermal repair zone.…”

Artocarpin-enriched extract reverses collagen metabolism in UV-exposed fibroblasts

“…An improved collagen turnover may be achieved by stimulating fibroblast function and thus applicable to a variety of cosmetic and therapeutics applications. A well-known cosmetic ingredient, all-trans retinoic acid can stimulate proliferation of keratinocytes in the epidermis (Weiss et al 1988;Cho et al 2005) and restore/enhance collagen synthesis while decreasing MMP-1 expression in the dermis (Kligman et al 1986;Ellis et al 1990;Varani et al 2000). However, a major problem of retinoids is their disruption of skin barrier function, leading to skin irritation.…”

Turning back the clock: retinoic acid modifies intrinsic aging changes.

“…However, this ambiguity does not diminish the clinical utility of such changes. In the skin, RA treatment has been reported to reverse the epidermal atrophy associated with both aging and photoaging (12)(13)(14)(15)(16) and to stimulate new collagen deposition in the papillary dermis (17), with concomminent improvement in the appearance of skin in controlled clinical trials (12)(13)(14)(15). The present organ culture results (1) confirm these in vivo findings, and suggest that the RA effects are mediated at the cellular level through enhanced protein production and cell growth rate.…”