Background: Fractional lasers are commonly used for skin rejuvenation and scar correction. Though applying moisturizers has been considered as a usual step for post-laser care to improve physiologic function of skin, little is known about their efficacy.
Objective: To investigate the changes in epidermal barrier function with or without the use of moisturizer after fractional photothermolysis in human skin
Methods: A total of 29 healthy volunteers, age ranging from 27 to 35 years were enrolled. All subjects underwent 10,600nm ablative fractional CO2 laser and 1,550nm non-ablative fractional erbium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet laser on the inner surface of both arms with or without the use of palmitoylethanolamide (Physiogel AI repair cream®, GSK Korea, Seoul, South Korea). To elucidate whether the moisturizer could improve barrier impairment after laser irradiation, palmitoylethanolamide was applied 3 times a day for 1 week on one side of arm. Epidermal barrier function including transepidermal water loss (TEWL), water capacitance and surface colorwere assessed during the recoveryperiod.
Results: Both types of fractional laser led to an immediate increase of TEWL, level of erythema and pigmentation, and these parameters recovered within 1 week. On the contrary, water capacitance was decreased after laser irradiation and remained lower than the baseline for similar period of time. TEWL was increased to a lesser extent when palmitoylethanolamide was regularly applied after 10,600nm ablative fractional CO2 laser. However, after irradiating 1,550nm non-ablative fractional erbium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet laser, there was no difference of TEWL, water capacitance and surface color regardless of using moisturizer.
Conclusion: Our study suggests that the use of moisturizer after ablative fractional CO2 laser helps to restore impaired epidermal barrier function. However, applying moisturizer after fractional laser irradiation is not enough to compensate skin reactions including erythema and pigmentation.
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