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Cinotti E, Bovi C, Tonini G, Labeille B, Heusèle C, Nizard C, Schnebert S, Aubailly S, Barthélémy JC, Cambazard F, Cevenini G, Tognetti L, Cartocci A, Rubegni P, Perrot JL. Structural skin changes in elderly people investigated by reflectance confocal microscopy. J Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol 2020; 34:2652-2658. [PMID: 32294278 DOI: 10.1111/jdv.16466] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/14/2019] [Revised: 03/17/2020] [Accepted: 03/25/2020] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Reflectance confocal microscopy (RCM) is particularly suitable for the study of skin ageing because it provides nearly histological information in vivo and non-invasively. However, there are no studies that evaluated RCM skin features of a large population older than 70 years. OBJECTIVES The aim of our investigation was to study age-related skin changes in an elderly population by RCM and to evaluate their topographical and gender differences. METHODS We obtained RCM images of photoprotected (volar arm) and chronic (face) and intermittently photoexposed (dorsal forearm) body sites of 209 volunteers (105 women and 104 men, mean age: 77.5, range 74-81 years). 15 previously reported and new RCM parameters related to skin ageing were assessed. RESULTS Photoexposed sites had thicker suprapapillary epidermis, more linear, distant and thin furrows, higher presence of mottled pigmentation, polycyclic papillae and coarse and huddled collagen and lower presence of dermal papillae than the photoprotected site. Irregular honeycomb pattern was not higher in photoexposed sites, indicating that it is probably more dependent on intrinsic ageing. Two ageing scores defined for facial skin ageing (epidermal disarray score and epidermal hyperplasia score) were found useful for the identification of photoageing. Gender differences only concerned some RCM parameters (i.e. thickness of different layers of the epidermis, furrows and collagen score) and some body sites, in line with the fact that women and men of our cohort had no major differences in clinically visible skin ageing. CONCLUSIONS Our study confirmed that RCM is a powerful non-invasive technique to microscopically quantify ageing signs and our observations contribute to highlight the differences between intrinsic and extrinsic ageing.
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Affiliation(s)
- E Cinotti
- Dermatology Unit, Department of Medical, Surgical and Neuro-Sciences, University of Siena, Siena, Italy
| | - C Bovi
- Dermatology Unit, Department of Medical, Surgical and Neuro-Sciences, University of Siena, Siena, Italy
| | - G Tonini
- Dermatology Unit, Department of Medical, Surgical and Neuro-Sciences, University of Siena, Siena, Italy
| | - B Labeille
- Department of Dermatology, University Hospital of Saint-Etienne, Saint-Etienne, France
| | - C Heusèle
- LVMH Research, Saint-Jean-de-Braye, France
| | - C Nizard
- LVMH Research, Saint-Jean-de-Braye, France
| | | | - S Aubailly
- LVMH Research, Saint-Jean-de-Braye, France
| | - J C Barthélémy
- Clinical and Exercise Physiology Laboratory, University Hospital of Saint-Etienne, Saint-Etienne, France
| | - F Cambazard
- Department of Dermatology, University Hospital of Saint-Etienne, Saint-Etienne, France
| | - G Cevenini
- Department of Medical Biotechnologies, University of Siena, Siena, Italy
| | - L Tognetti
- Dermatology Unit, Department of Medical, Surgical and Neuro-Sciences, University of Siena, Siena, Italy
| | - A Cartocci
- Department of Medical Biotechnologies, University of Siena, Siena, Italy
| | - P Rubegni
- Dermatology Unit, Department of Medical, Surgical and Neuro-Sciences, University of Siena, Siena, Italy
| | - J L Perrot
- Department of Dermatology, University Hospital of Saint-Etienne, Saint-Etienne, France
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