Urea — the gold standard for skin xerosis therapy

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Xerosis is a multifaceted and common skin condition, often manifested as the only symptom, but can accompany such chronic skin or systemic diseases as atopic dermatitis, psoriasis, follicular keratosis, diabetes mellitus, etc. Additional causes of xerosis are deficiency of the natural moisturizing factor (NMF), deficiency of lipids of the stratum corneum of the skin, as well as a decrease in the skin’s own moisture network formed by water channels — aquaporins. In most cases, patients can effectively treat xerosis with emollients. The use of emollients and moisturizers is an indispensable component of the background external therapy of chronic dermatoses, potentiates the therapeutic (including anti-inflammatory) effect of topical corticosteroids and reduces the risk of side effects. Medical and cosmetic products are used not only to normalize the level of transepidermal water loss, but also to restore the barrier properties of the epidermis. Urea, a well-studied component of NMF, is widely used in clinical practice to reduce dryness and hyperkeratosis of the skin. The moisturizing activity of urea can be increased by combining it with ceramides, glycoglycerol and other components of NMF.

Keywords:

xerosis of the skin

skin dryness

phyllagrin

natural moisturizing factor (NMF)

aquaporins

urea

skin barrier function

ceramides

glycoglycerol

transepidermal water loss (TEWL)

Authors:

Okhlopkov V.A.

GBOU "Omskaia gosudarstvennaia meditsinskaia akademiia" Ministerstva zdravookhraneniia Rossiĭskoĭ Federatsii

Komarovsky I.V.

Omsk State Medical University of the Ministry of Health of Russia, Omsk, Russia

Skalskiy S.V.

Omsk State Medical University, Omsk, Russia

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