Improving Skin Hardness and Thickness using a combination of Omega-3 Fatty Acid and Aloe Vera Oil: Pilot study

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Department of Clinical Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, P.O. Box 22452, Riyadh 11459, Saudi Arabia

2 Department of Radiological Science, College of Applied Medical Sciences, King Saud University, P.O. Box 22452, Riyadh 11459, Saudi Arabia

3 Department of Pharmaceutics, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, P.O. Box 22452, Riyadh 11459, Saudi Arabia

4 Department of Industrial Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Assiut University 71526, Assiut, Egypt

Abstract

Background/Aims: Maintaining skin elasticity and hardness is one way of keeping younger skin. This study investigates the topical effects of Aloe Vera (AV) alone and accompanied with Omega-3 (O-3) on skin hardness and thickness.
Method: Healthy females were randomly selected and divided into two groups (15 in each group) for a double-blind controlled study. All volunteers, between 18-25 years of age, were not pregnant or suffering from any medical illness. Both groups were asked to put formulations having similar appearance on the skin of forearm for 30 days. A prepared skin formulation containing AV oil only was considered baseline. The other group was treated with AV oil and O-3 mixture. Skin elasticity and hardness were measured using Digital Durometer and Diagnostic Ultrasound System.
Results: Compared to baseline, skin elasticity & hardness significantly improved at the end of the study in both AV and the combination groups. There was a slight synergistic effect of combining O-3 and AV on both elasticity and hardness.
Conclusion: The study is the first of its kind exploring the possible use of AV and O-3 topically to reverse the signs of aging on skin thickness. At the end of trial period improvements in skin thickness were noticed.

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