- Design
- randomised controlled trial over 112 days, active regimen versus standard cream after PicoWay laser
- Population
- 88 Chinese women undergoing PicoWay laser treatment
- Primary outcome
- transepidermal water loss and hydration at day 14; elasticity, firmness, wrinkles and skin tone to day 112
- Effect
- lower transepidermal water loss, higher hydration and less redness at day 14 and better cosmetic measures at day 112, with no effect sizes or confidence intervals reported
Aftercare following non-ablative laser is largely governed by habit. This 112-day randomised trial in 88 Chinese women compared a branded regimen containing Pro-Xylane, niacinamide and panthenol against a standard cream after PicoWay laser treatment, measuring transepidermal water loss and hydration over the first fourteen days and elasticity, firmness, wrinkles and skin tone over the full period.
The test group had lower transepidermal water loss and higher hydration at day 14, less redness, and better elasticity, firmness, wrinkle and tone measures at day 112. Tolerability was reported as excellent.
What the report does not contain is a single effect size, confidence interval or p-value for those outcomes, which is why nothing here can be weighed against an alternative. Add a branded comparator against unspecified 'standard cream', an all-female single-centre Chinese cohort, and outcomes that are mostly instrument-measured cosmetic surrogates, and the appropriate conclusion is narrow: a barrier-repair regimen after laser is reasonable and was well tolerated, which was already the practice. It is not a reason to specify a particular product, and the direction of any commercial interest is worth checking before it is recommended to a patient.
- Barrier repair after non-ablative laser is sensible; the specific product is not established by this
- No effect sizes were published, so the size of any benefit is unknown
- The comparator was an unspecified standard cream, which is not a fair test of the actives
- Findings come from Chinese women only, and pigmentary responses differ across skin types
- Bland emollient, sun avoidance and photoprotection remain the evidence-backed core of aftercare
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