L’Oréal has launched a new ingredient offering an as-yet-unexplored way to address localised pigmentation issues, which lead to age spots and post-acne marks.
Called Melasyl, the molecule is said to be the result of 18 years of research and 121 scientific studies.
Formulations containing the proprietary ingredient work across all skin tones to address pigmented marks on the skin.
Melasyl is launching in products under La Roche Posay’s Mela B3 franchise, including MelaB3 serum and MelaB3 SPF30.
Future products from L’Oréal Paris and Vichy are also expected to use the ingredient.
“Melasyl has a different mechanism of action from other cosmetic ingredients that act on pigmentation,” Peggy Sextius, Chef de Laboratoire at L’Oréal, told Cosmetics Business.
“Most current solutions try to reduce the activity of the enzyme that triggers the production of melanin pigments, tyrosinase, while Melasyl connects with some melanin precursors and catches them like Pac-Man!
“It intercepts them before they mark the skin, thus preventing excessive accumulation of melanin in the skin.
“The result is a huge improvement in effectiveness; Melasyl has a clinically proven superior efficacy in preventing UV induced pigmentation versus 13 reference actives on the market.”
According to a worldwide epidemiological study on pigmentary disorders by La Roche Posay, half of all people report having at least one skin pigmentation issue.
The research involved more than 48,000 people in 34 countries and was presented at the World Congress of Dermatology in Singapore last year.
The disorders in question included depigmentation issues like vitiligo (8%), but were mostly hyperpigmentation ones, such as solar lentigo (27%), hyperpigmentation (18%), post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation (15%), periorbital hyperpigmentation (15%) and melasma (11%).