Vitamin A Lotion May Reduce Wrinkles

A small study has shown it may be possible to reverse somewhat the wrinklingof old age. The research suggests that topical application of retinol, aform of vitamin A, could make older people less prone to skin ulcerationsand poor healing of wounds.Three dozen white people - average age, 87 - had a skin moisturizer lacedwith retinol applied to one of their inner arms a couple of times a week forsix months; a placebo was applied to the other arm. Neither the researcherwho rubbed on the lotions nor the participants knew what was being applied.By the end of the testing period, fine wrinkling - which was assessed on ascale from zero, for none, to 9, for severe - declined considerably on theretinol-treated skin, from an average of 7.25 to 5.61.The researchers speculated that the retinol increased the production ofcollagen, which helps make skin elastic, and of glycosaminoglycan, whichretains water.Most of the 36 participants experienced some redness or itchiness where theretinol had been applied, though only three found these reactions severeenough to withdraw from the study.Retinoic acid, a different form of vitamin A, is used to treat acne andsunlight-damaged skin. Sold under Retin-A and other brands, it is unsuitablefor geriatric patients, the researchers noted, because of the irritation itoften causes.Eleven of the seniors who received follow-up exams found the benefits of thedrug to be transitory: Six months after the study, the researchers found nosignificant differences between the retinol-treated skin and theplacebo-treated skin.Four of the authors of the study, which appeared in the May edition of theArchives of Dermatology, are working on patents for treating aging skin. TheNational Institutes of Health partially funded the research.
[Reuters]