New material temporarily tightens skin

Original Publication: Nature Materials
Published: 9 May 2016

Scientists at MIT, Massachusetts General Hospital, Living Proof, and Olivo Labs have developed a new material that can temporarily protect and tighten skin, and smooth wrinkles. With further development, it could also be used to deliver drugs to help treat skin conditions such as eczema and other types of dermatitis.

The material, a silicone-based polymer that could be applied on the skin as a thin, imperceptible coating, mimics the mechanical and elastic properties of healthy, youthful skin. In tests with human subjects, the researchers found that the material was able to reshape “eye bags” under the lower eyelids and also enhance skin hydration. This type of “second skin” could also be adapted to provide long-lasting ultraviolet protection, the researchers say.

“It’s an invisible layer that can provide a barrier, provide cosmetic improvement, and potentially deliver a drug locally to the area that’s being treated. Those three things together could really make it ideal for use in humans,” says Daniel Anderson, an associate professor in MIT’s Department of Chemical Engineering and a member of MIT’s Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research and Institute for Medical Engineering and Science (IMES).

Researchers

Daniel Anderson, MIT; Fernanda Sakamoto and Rox Anderson of MGH; Soo-Young Kang of Living Proof; Morgan Pilkenton and Alpesh Patel, formerly of Living Proof; and Ariya Akthakul, Nithin Ramadurai, and Amir Nashat ScD ’03, of Olivo Laboratories.

Original source: http://news.mit.edu/2016/polymer-temporarily-tightens-skin-drug-delivery-0509