Evaluation of the effects of a preparation containing asiaticoside on periocular wrinkles of human volunteers.

Skin ageing is accompanied by wrinkle formation. In particular, periorbital wrinkle formation is a relatively early sign of skin ageing. We evaluated the effects of a preparation containing asiaticoside on the periorbital wrinkles of a group of volunteers. The effectiveness of the active compound, asiaticoside, in a base-cream preparation for the treatment of temporal periorbital wrinkles was tested on 27 female volunteers as follows: the women applied the cream twice a day to the region of interest for 12 weeks. Same women also applied a vehicle control cream to the periorbital skin around the other eye. Negative replicas were taken of the periorbital skin before treatment and 4, 8, and 12 weeks after application of the cream. The results were evaluated by semi-automated morphometry of the plastic replicas. After 12 weeks of treatment, there was a significant improvement of the periorbital wrinkles in majority of the volunteers who tested the cream. Of the 27 women examined with periocular wrinkles, 65% showed an improvement at the end of the treatment. In three cases, the improvement was 100% (disappearance of the crow's feet), 75% +/- 1.97 and 79% +/- 2.82. On six eyes, there was no significant change after the treatment. With 12 weeks of treatment with the asiaticoside-containing cream, most of the periorbital wrinkles were attenuated to some degree, and some women experienced a significant improvement of the periorbital wrinkles on one of their eyes.