Ageing profiles of Caucasian and Chinese cohorts - focus on hands skin.

OBJECTIVE: In spite of hand care being a dynamic segment of skin care, hands skin physiology has been receiving little attention in comparison to facial skin. In the present study, we aimed at gathering a comprehensive set of skin data from the dorsal part of the hand to study age related-changes in two ethnic groups (Caucasian and Chinese).

METHODS: Skin topographic, skin colour/colour heterogeneities, skin chromophores and skin biophysical measurements of 116 Caucasian and Chinese female volunteers aged 30-65 years old were collected in Ireland and in China as part of a cross-sectional study.

RESULTS: Topographic alterations happened at both micro and macro scales with a noticeable delay in the onset of 10 years for the Chinese cohort. Similar evolution of skin colour with ageing was observed between the two cohorts and strong dissimilarities were seen when it came to colour heterogeneities and melanin hyper concentration, with a 20-year delay in severity for the Chinese cohort. A similar sharp drop of skin hydration occurred when reaching the 60's regardless of the group and substantial differences were recorded for skin biomechanical properties of the skin.

CONCLUSION: These results provide additional insights about hand skin physiology in relation to ageing and ethnic differences, especially when put into perspective with what is currently known about facial ageing. This research yield additional material for hand cream product rationale and strategies for mitigating the appearance of ageing hands.