By Stephenie Overman
U.K. researchers have developed a topical cream that contains green tea catechins to prevent stretch marks from developing.
Science of Skin Ltd.'s Solution for Stretch Marks cream
Dr. Douglas McGeorge, a cosmetic surgeon, and Ardeskir Bayat, an academic skin biologist, published the results of their test in the Archives of Dermatological Research. An abstract of “Functional Testing of Topical Skin Formulations Using an Optimised Ex Vivo Skin Organ Culture Model” was available online in PubMed ahead of the print publication.
The researchers conducted punch biopsies on subjects on the third, seventh and tenth day of treatment. “Reduced gene expression of α-SMA, fibronectin, mast cell tryptase, mast cell chymase, TGF-β1, CTGF and PAI-1 was observed after 7 and 10 days compared with treated controls. Histological analysis indicated a reduction in mast cell tryptase and chymase positive cell numbers in treated biopsies compared with untreated controls at day 7 and day 10,” according to the researchers.
An added advantage of these types of studies, the researchers noted, is that they can be conducted on humans in a clinical environment. The European Union has banned animal models for cosmetic testing of products or ingredients for sale in the EU.
McGeorge and Bayat are founders of the skin care company Science of Skin Ltd. The company produces other products that contain green tea catechins.
Last fall McGeorge told the Chester Chronicle that the company’s Solution for Scars cream works by turning off the body’s inflammatory response once a wound is healed, reducing itching and discomfort and limiting scar thickening.
“If you operate on a foetus while it is still in the womb the baby will be born without a scar. This is because before birth skin and tissue is repaired by regeneration,” he told the newspaper last fall. “But post birth we heal in a different way, by inflammation, which is far quicker as the body needs to repair more quickly, but unfortunately it results in scars. What Solution for Scars cream does, once it is absorbed into the skin, is turn off the body’s inflammatory response which can create thickened, uncomfortable scars.”
Sources: Archives of Dermatological Research, Chester Chronicle
