Retinol 0.1% improves signs of photoaging

Key takeaways:

• Retinol at 0.1% strength resulted in improved signs of photoaging by week 12.
• Of 237 participants that used retinol, four experienced adverse events including erythema and scaling/peeling.

Stabilized bioactive retinol 0.1% can be an effective solution for individuals seeking to improve signs of photoaging, according to a study.

“While the bioactivity of topically applied stabilized retinol has been demonstrated, the clinical efficacy of retinol is not yet widely appreciated among the dermatological community,” Patricia Farris, MD, clinical associate professor of dermatology at Tulane University School of Medicine, and colleagues wrote.

To add to this literature, the researchers conducted an integrated analysis that combined and examined the results of six vehicle-controlled clinical studies that investigated the efficacy and tolerability of 0.1% stabilized bioactive retinol.

Across all studies, the same dermatologist investigator assessed overall photodamage at baseline and weeks 4, 8 and 12. All participants were women (mean age, 47.4 years) and displayed mild to moderate signs of photoaging. Of the 352 women in the study, 237 applied retinol and 234 applied vehicle in either a split-face or entire-face study design.

Retinol’s effect was calculated as the difference in the mean change from baseline between retinol and vehicle.

Efficacy results showed that retinol resulted in greater decreases from baseline in overall photodamage vs. vehicle at weeks 4, 8 and 12. Retinol’s effect was an 0.88 decrease (95% CI, –0.98 to –0.79) in overall photodamage severity from baseline to week 12.

By week 12, retinol also improved forehead wrinkles (effect of retinol, –0.41; 95% CI, –0.48 to –0.33), cheek wrinkles (effect of retinol, –0.68; 95% CI, –0.77 to –0.59), undereye wrinkles (effect of retinol, –0.4; 95% CI, –0.48 to –0.32), crow’s feet wrinkles (effect of retinol, –0.36; 95% CI, –0.44 to –0.27) and crow’s feet fine lines (effect of retinol, –0.9; 95% CI, –1 to –0.81) vs. vehicle.

Retinol also corrected the appearance of uneven skin tone (effect of retinol, –0.83; 95% CI, –0.95 to –0.71) and brown spots (effect of retinol, –0.74; 95% CI, –0.85 to –0.63) compared with vehicle.

Tolerability results showed that one patient in each group experienced erythema and five patients experienced scaling/peeling (retinol, n = 3; vehicle, n = 2). However, these cases resolved by week 8 and the researchers concluded that both retinol and vehicle were well tolerated up to 12 weeks.

“These pooled results demonstrate that a well-formulated topical retinol at a strength of 0.1% can be an effective cosmeceutical solution for individuals seeking to improve signs of photoaging,” the authors wrote.