In April 2018, The Essex Testing Clinic conducted a clinical study of Volition Beauty’s Snow Mushroom Water Serum. The Essex Testing Clinic provides leading human clinical testing for product safety, efficacy, and marking claims support. With over 75,000 products tested from a wide range of companies. The clinical study lasted two weeks, from April 25th, 2018, to May 9th, 2018, with the study results written on September 24th, 2021.
Clinical testing is an important part of producing skincare products. These trials are designed to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of a new product or treatment in addressing specific conditions or skin concerns. The National Library of Medicine calls clinical trials the backbone of modern medicine in dermatology. The Essex Testing Clinic believes there are 4 main benefits to clinical testing: establishing more credibility, streamlined operations, ease of subject recruitment, and increased quality and production.
Objective
The objective of the study was to determine if the use of the Snow Mushroom Water Serum improved fine lines/wrinkles and pore size after two weeks of use by a panel of 30 female volunteers aged 35-60 (with the majority 40-55 years of age).
Participants
All of the participants were in good health and agreed to refrain from using self-tanner or tanning beds during the duration of the study. The women also agreed not to use any other serum or skin treatment or introduce personal care or cosmetic products for the duration of the study.
Test Procedures
Visual Evaluation
The study was a 2-week study where the participants used the Snow Mushroom Water Serum 2 times a day and followed up with their regular moisturizing routine (according to Volition’s instructions). Every subject reported to the clinic on the first day of the study, where a trained technician evaluated the appearance of fine lines/wrinkles and pore size before two weeks of application. The technicians at the Essex Testing Clinic study and are trained by the lab to become technicians and evaluate different clinical tests. The evaluation was done on the following scales:
Evaluation of Fine lines/Wrinkles:
0= no Fine lines/Wrinkles
1-3= slight Fine lines/Wrinkles
4-6= noticeable Fine lines/Wrinkles
7-9= very noticeable Fine lines/Wrinkles
Evaluation of Pore Size:
0= pore barely visible
1-3= small sized pores visible
4-6= medium sized pores visible
7-9= large sized pores visible
Facial Imaging:
In addition to the visual evaluation, the clinic used Visia CR 2.0, a facial imaging machine that assesses the size, depth, and amount of fine lines/wrinkles and pores.
The images from the Visia CR 2.0 were then analyzed by Image Pro software to determine the appearance of fine line wrinkles. The technologies calculate the texture scores (a single number based on skin features) by identifying intensities (determined by the colors: red, green, and blue of the pixels). The intensity of the fine lines/wrinkles and pores were mapped using “heat mapping technology” where the more severe skin markings were green and the lighter markings were yellow. The size of pores were also plotted on the face of participants in blue.
At the end of the study, each participant returned to the clinic and was reevaluated by a technician and the Visia CR 2.0. The participants were then assessed by the same scales and technologies as the intake to determine the results
Findings:
Fine Lines and Wrinkles Technical Evaluation:
When comparing the study results with initial scores, there was a mean improvement of 14.3% based on technician evaluation. According to The Essex Testing Clinic, improvement was highly significant. 90% of the subjects showed improvement after two weeks of Product use.
Fine Lines and Wrinkles Image Analysis:
Comparing the images to the original images, there was a mean improvement of 12.7% based on image analysis. Again, the improvements observed were highly significant. 90% of the subjects saw improvements after two weeks.
Pores Technical Evaluation:
When scores were compared to the baseline scores, there was an improvement of 3.8% after two weeks of usage. These results are statistically significant when compared to the baseline results. 26% of subjects showed improvements after two weeks.
Pores Image Analysis:
According to image analysis, comparing result images to baseline images, there was a mean improvement of 5.9%. The improvement observed was highly significant, with 87% of the subjects showing improvement after two weeks.
Links:
https://www.canfieldsci.com/imaging-systems/visia-cr/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5555277/
https://denovaresearch.com/skin-care-clinical-trials/
https://essextesting.com/blog/the-importance-of-an-independent-product-testing-lab-in-2021/
