A study published in the Journal of Drugs in Dermatology found topical application of all 0.1 percent hyaluronic acid (HA) formulations led to significant improvement in skin hydration and elasticity (2011;10(9):990-1000). HA is a well-known active ingredient for cosmetic applications due to its strong water-binding potential. Native HA is proposed to help the skin to retain and maintain elasticity, turgor and moisture; therefore, researchers observed the efficacy of topical application of 0.1 percent hyaluronan formulations of different molecular weights (MW) (50, 130, 300, 800 and 2000 kDa, respectively) in the periocular area as anti-wrinkle treatment. A total of 76 female subjects between 30 and 60 years of age with clinical signs of periocular wrinkles applied one of the formulations twice daily to the area of interest in a randomized fashion for 60 days. Around the other eye, a vehicle control cream was applied. Measurements of skin hydration and skin elasticity were performed before treatment, 30 and 60 days thereafter. At similar time points negative replicas were taken and evaluated by semi-automated morphometry.
All HA-based creams demonstrated a significant improvement in skin hydration and overall elasticity values (R2) when compared to placebo. Measurements of wrinkle depth using mean roughness (Ra) and maximum roughness (Rz) values revealed significant improvement in the 130 and the 50 kDa HA group after 60 days of treatment compared to placebo-treated area. Application of low-molecular-weight (LMW) HA was associated with significant reduction of wrinkle depth, which may be due to better penetration abilities of LMW HA.