Efficacy of a hyaluronic acid-containing dressing for facial skin wound healing in patients with freckles after intensive pulsed light treatment

Objective To evaluate the safety of a hyaluronic acid-containing dressing for wound healing of facial skin in patients with freckles after intensive pulsed light (IPL) therapy.Methods A multicenter,randomized,open,controlled clinical trial was conducted.A total of 298 IPL-treated patients with freckles were recruited into this study.After IPL therapy,all the patients were randomly divided into two groups to be topically treated with a hyaluronic acid-containing dressing (experiment group) or a sodium chloride physiological solutioncontaining face mask (control group).Skin physiological parameters,including sebum content,water content in stratum corneum,and transepidermal water loss,were invasively measured at the baseline,on day 3,7 and 14 after the start of topical treatment.The formation and desquamation of irradiation-induced crusts were observed,the degree of patient satisfaction was evaluated,and adverse reactions were recorded.Results The water content in stratum corneum and transepidermal water loss were (25.32 ± 4.14) ％ and (14.08 ± 3.32) g·cm-2·h-1,respectively,in the experimental group on day 14,significantly different from those before treatment (both P＜0.01) and those in the control group on day 14 (both P ＜ 0.01).Skin sebum content in the experiment group showed no significant changes during the 14-day treatment (P ＞ 0.05),and was similar to that in the control group on day 14 (P ＞ 0.05).The percentage of patients experiencing the initial desquamation of crusts within three days and that experiencing complete desquamation of crusts within seven days were significantly different between the experiment group and control group (x2 =7.774,P ＜ 0.01; x2 =4.692,P ＜ 0.05).Statistical differences were observed in the degree of patient satisfaction between the two groups (P ＜ 0.05).No adverse reactions were reported during the trial.Conclusion The hyaluronic acid-containing dressing can restore skin barrier function with a good safety profile,and may serve as an adjuvant therapy for wound healing of facial skin after IPL irradiation.