Topical palmitoyl pentapeptide provides improvement in photoaged human facial skin1

Abstract

The palmitoyl pentapeptide palmitoyl-lysine-threonine-threonine-lysine-serine (pal-KTTKS) is a synthetic material that was designed as a topical agent to stimulate collagen production and thus provide a skin anti-wrinkle benefit. To determine if pal-KTTKS is effective, the clinical study reported here was conducted. Caucasian female subjects (n = 93, aged 35–55) participated in a 12-week, double-blind, placebo-controlled, split-face, left–right randomized clinical study assessing two topical products: moisturizer control product vs. the same moisturizer product containing 3 ppm pal-KTTKS. Pal-KTTKS was well tolerated by the skin and provided significant improvement vs. placebo control for reduction in wrinkles/fine lines by both quantitative technical and expert grader image analysis. In self-assessments, subjects also reported significant fine line/wrinkle improvements and noted directional effects for other facial improvement parameters.