In a study published in Lasers in Surgery and Medicine (March 2016), Jill Waibel, MD, et al, investigated whether laser-assisted delivery of vitamins C and E plus ferulic acid immediately following fractional ablative laser treatments would improve wound healing. Their secondary objectives were to evaluate the potential molecular markers involved in that wound-healing process.
The researchers performed a double-blinded, prospective, single-center, randomized split-face trial of topical formula #740019 (vitamin C, vitamin E and ferulic acid) to decrease recovery time after fractional ablative laser resurfacing for photodamage. Fifteen healthy men and women (30-55 years old) were treated with the antioxidant serum on one side of the face and vehicle on the other within two minutes of fractional ablative CO2 laser surgery. They continued daily split-face application of the topicals during the healing process. Patients were evaluated daily for the first week using photographs, patient questionnaires and molecular evaluation.
Subjects experienced decreased edema on the treatment side when compared with vehicle on day seven and decreased erythema versus vehicle on days three and five. Molecularly, the expression of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) was significantly increased at day five on the lesions treated with the vitamin C, vitamin E and ferulic acid formulation compared to vehicle control.
Dr. Waibel, et al, concluded that use of the antioxidant serum correlated with more rapid healing after fractional ablative laser treatments and that “elevated bFGF could be involved in the Vitamin C, E, and Ferulic acid-induced rapid wound healing.”
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