New Products

Murad Adds Two New Blemish-Targeting Products

Murad rolled out two new anti-acne products to help patients say goodbye to blemishes.

The Pore Extractor Pomegranate Mask features volcanic clay, pomegranate extract, and lactic acid polishing beads that work together to deep clean the skin and minimize the appearance of pores.

Rapid Relief Acne Spot Treatment is an invisible maximum strength salicylic acid gel that reduces blemish size and redness in just four hours. Rapid Relief Acne Spot Treatment is formulated with a patented complex that features thyme and pine extracts to fight irritants while preserving skin’s natural balance. Horse chestnut and oat extracts help to reduce redness and soothe the skin. murad.com

Turn-key Websites from Exponential Faces

Exponential Faces INC empowers every practice to generate significant revenue with a high-margin cosmeceuticals website that they say can produce revenue in minutes. Exponential Faces can launch a full e-commerce site for dermatologists, plastic surgeons, and physicians providing high-margin cosmeceuticals to patients and others surfing their site. This full turn-key solution provides nearly 50 leading brands and includes complete e-commerce and fulfillment support to enable every practice to supplement their existing skincare offerings with the brands their patients desire. Practices can now ensure that their patients’ needs are being met in an easy-to-use, SEO-optimized, mobile-friendly website with the latest security technology to ensure a safe, satisfying shopping experience. Exponential Faces provides an e-commerce solution to practices with a revenue split; their platform includes proprietary software for skincare analysis as well as order fulfillment and customer service. exponentialfaces.com

Exuviance Launches AF Vitamin C20 Serum Capsules

Exuviance introduced AF Vitamin C20 Serum Capsules, a potent formulation of maximum strength 20% Vitamin C and patented AminoFil to restore and protect skin.

L-Ascorbic Acid, Vitamin C, is an essential co-factor in the production of collagen helping to improve firmness, strengthen skin’s matrix, smooth fine lines and wrinkles, brighten dark spots, and protect against daily environmental damage. Patented AminoFil volumizes and targets the skin matrix for enhanced firming benefits. The serum can be applied to the face, neck, or back of hands, or can be mixed into a nighttime moisturizer just before application to give skin a beauty boost at night. exuviance.com

La-Roche Posay Launches Anthelios Dermo-Kids Gentle Sunscreen Lotion

La Roche-Posay recently introduced their first sunscreen for kids to the US—the Anthelios 60 Dermo-Kids. Powerful UVA/UVB filters provide broad spectrum, 80-minute water resistant protection. The sunscreen is formulated with the La Roche-Posay exclusive Cell-Ox Shield Technology that offers UVA/UVB protection plus antioxidants such as Vitamin E to help neutralize UV-generated free-radical damage. The product is dermatologist-tested for skin tolerance, and the lightweight lotion is formulated without fragrance or parabens so it’s gentle on children’s sensitive skin. It is also dermatologist- and pediatrician-tested for safety—and 96 percent of mothers who tried its formula said it felt gentle on their children’s skin and 94 percent said that it did not run into the eyes. The sunscreen is formulated with soothing Vitamin E, antioxidant-rich and soothing La Roche-Posay Thermal Spring Water, and moisturizing glycerin. It is non-comedogenic and allergy tested. laroche-posay.us

Therapeutic Focus: Acne and Rosacea

Study Finds Soolantra is Anti-inflammatory and Anti-demodex

A recently published study sought to find scientific rationale for the dual anti-inflammatory and anti-parasitic mode of action of topical ivermectin 1% cream (Soolantra) in patients with rosacea.

In a monocentric pilot study, 20 Caucasian patients with moderate to severe rosacea, as assessed by investigator global assessment (IGA score ≥ 3) and a demodex density ≥ 15/cm^{2, were treated with topical ivermectin 1% cream once daily for ≥12 weeks. The density of Demodex mites was assessed with skin surface biopsies. Expression of inflammatory and immune markers were evaluated with RT-PCR and by immunofluorescence staining.}

The study found the mean density of mites was significantly decreased at week six and week 12. Results showed that the gene expression levels of IL-8, LL-37, HBD3, TLR4 and TNF-α were downregulated at both time points. Reductions in gene expression were significant for LL-37, HBD3 and TNF-α at both follow up time points and at week 12 for TLR4. Reduced LL-37 and IL-8 expression was confirmed on the protein level by immunofluorescence staining.

All study patients improved clinically, and 16 of the 20 patients reached therapeutic success (IGA score ≤ 1).

The study authors concluded: “Topical ivermectin 1% cream acts by a dual, anti-inflammatory and anti-parasitic mode of action against rosacea by killing Demodex spp. in vivo, in addition to significantly improving clinical signs and symptoms in the skin.”

— J Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol. 2017 Jun 27.

FOREO’s New At-Home Blue Light Acne Pen Hits the US and Canada

FOREO’s blue-light acne pen is now available in 333 stores in the US and Canada with more to be added by September 2017.

The FOREO ESPADA comprises 415nm of blue light energy combined with red cross-hair targeting that converges as ESPADA approaches the skin so users can zero-in on acne-affected areas. In addition, FOREO’s unique T-Sonic pulsations stimulate the skin, increasing in strength over the course of the treatment and forcing light into the deepest layers. T-Sonic pulsations also facilitate cell renewal and healing. The device is touch-sensor activated only on skin contact.

WATCH IT NOW: ADULT FEMALE ACNE: STEP BY STEP

With many effective options available to treat adult female acne, management can seem like a daunting task. Bethanee Schlosser, MD talks to DermTube Journal Club host Joshua Zeichner, MD, about aspects of care from assessment to treatment, with an emphasis on identifying the best candidates for approved and off-label treatments.

Her approach to assessing patients: “First, getting some historical facts from the patient is really important. So definitely asking them if they had acne as an adolescent that has persisted into adulthood, has the nature of their acne changed, whether in terms of the types of acne lesions that they’re getting—superficial versus the more tender kind of nodules that I call ‘under the grounders’ on the skin, or if the distribution of their acne has changed…”

FOREO’s ESPADA is equipped with a built-in timer to maximize blue-light potency in a 30-second treatment and features two types of medical-grade silicone to prevent the spread of bacteria.

The ESPADA retails for $149 and is available in cobalt blue, magenta, and pink.

No Need to Delay Certain Skin Procedures for Isotretinoin Patients

New consensus recommendations set the record straight on the timing of skin procedures for patients taking isotretinoin.

After reviewing 32 relevant publications, the authors found “insufficient evidence” to support delaying manual dermabrasion, superficial chemical peels, skin surgery, laser hair removal, and fractional ablative and nonablative laser procedures for patients who are currently taking or who have recently completed isotretinoin therapy, according to the recommendations which are published in JAMA Dermatology. However, mechanical dermabrasion and fully ablative laser procedures are not currently recommended.

For decades, it has been widely taught that isotretinoin causes abnormal scarring or delayed wound healing, although this notion stems from three case series published in the mid-1980s describing only a handful of patients, according to the article.

“With the information presented in this article, physicians may have an evidence-based discussion with patients regarding the known risk of cutaneous surgical procedures in the setting of systemic isotretinoin treatment,” the authors write. “For some patients and some conditions, an informed decision may lead to earlier and potentially more effective interventions.