Injections and painful surgeries might become a thing of the past if the new "second skin" developed by scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) ever becomes commercially available. The new material can temporarily protect and tighten skin and smooth wrinkles, and if development goes according to plan, it could even be used to treat skin conditions by acting as a drug carrier.
The unique material is a silicone-based polymer that is applied to the skin as a thin coating that mimics the properties of young, healthy human skin. The tests conducted on human subjects thus far reveal that the skin can reshape "eye bags" under the lower eyelids and increase skin hydration.
"It's an invisible layer that can provide a barrier, provide cosmetic improvement, and potentially deliver a drug locally to the area that's being treated," said Daniel Anderson, an associate professor in MIT's Department of Chemical Engineering and co-author of the study. "Those three things together could really make it ideal for use in humans.
Skin loses its firmness and elasticity as it ages, impairing its ability to protect against various dangers including extreme temperatures, toxins and radiation. The team set out to find a solution to this aging process 10 years ago through the development of a protective coating for both medical and cosmetic applications.
"We started thinking about how we might be able to control the properties of skin by coating it with polymers that would impart beneficial effects," Anderson said. "We also wanted it to be invisible and comfortable."
Using a library of more than 100 possible polymers, all of which contained a chemical structure that allows them to be developed into a cross-linked polymer layer (XPL), the team searched for materials that were most ideal for the creation of a second skin that mirrors the appearance, strength and elasticity as healthy human skin.
"It has to have the right optical properties, otherwise it won't look good, and it has to have the right mechanical properties, otherwise it won't have the right strength and it won't perform correctly," said Robert Langer, the David H. Koch Institute Professor at MIT and senior author of the study.
The team pinpointed the most novel XPL with elasticity that allowed it to tighten skin and reduced eye bags for up to 24 hours. Furthermore, it was effective at increasing skin elasticity and reducing water loss on dry skin.
The MIT team's unique second skin is now being pitched to companies in order for use on skin conditions, although there are many future possibilities including in the cosmetics industry.
The findings were published in the May 9 issue of Nature Materials.
