Happy 2026. We’ve had a quiet January. Under the surface, the team has been peddling hard to get everything ready for a new product launch! My lips are sealed but it’s only a week to go until you see that news hitting your inboxes. Stay tuned. Meanwhile, I am ploughing through medical journals as thoroughly as ever. Here is our latest offering of studies;
Menopause smacks your face around!
A 2025 narrative review in the Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology takes a deep dive into what really happens to skin during perimenopause and menopause, and what role hormone therapy does (and doesn’t) play. I was an instant reader! The authors explained that the sharp drop in oestrogen during peri accelerates changes in skin quality, including loss of collagen, reduced elasticity, increased dryness, thinning, slower wound healing, and impaired skin barrier function. Unlike the gradual skin ageing men experience, these changes can feel abrupt and distressing for women.
The review found that hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is often associated with improvements in collagen, thickness, hydration, and elasticity, particularly when started close to menopause. However, results across studies are inconsistent, and current guidelines do not recommend HRT solely to treat ageing skin (mainly because we don’t have robust, skin-specific trials.) The authors also highlight a major gap in research: most aesthetic studies fail to account for menopausal status, despite women aged 40–69 being the biggest users of cosmetic treatments. So, not much new! But a reminder that hormonal status matters in women. It’s not just ageing!
Should you change your skincare depending on time of day?
A brand-new study published in the Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology was just intriguing: like your brain, your skin’s collagen metabolism follows a circadian rhythm. Using human skin fibroblasts in a test tube, animal models, and a small (30 person) clinical trial, researchers showed that different stages of collagen turnover peak at different times of day. Collagen synthesis and degradation were most active at night, while collagen assembly and fibre organisation peaked during the day. OK that sounds esoteric, right!?
But based on this, the researchers tested a time-based skincare approach. They applied baicalin (a natural flavonoid compound found to have anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties with a tiny bit of evidence in skin) during the day to support collagen fibre assembly, and palmitoyl tripeptide-1 at night to stimulate collagen synthesis. In mice, this day–night strategy led to denser, more orderly collagen fibres. In a human study of 30 women over eight weeks, the same regimen significantly improved skin brightness, firmness, elasticity, and reduced nasolabial fold depth. No control arm so this is interesting rather than earth shattering. But an interesting concept!
Ticking more boxes when treating pigmentation
A 2026 review in the Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology reframes melasma as far more than a simple “sun spot” problem, describing it as a complex, chronic pigmentary disorder driven by hormones, UV exposure, inflammation, oxidative stress, and skin ageing. The authors highlight growing evidence that melasma involves not just overactive melanocytes, but also dermal changes, including ageing fibroblasts, collagen breakdown, inflammation, and pigmentary leakage into deeper skin layers, which help explain why melasma is so persistent and prone to relapse.
Encouragingly, the treatment landscape is evolving. New non-hydroquinone brighteners offer safer long-term options. (Hello 4NB!) Procedural advances including low-fluence picosecond lasers, laser-assisted drug delivery, microneedling combinations, and exosome-based therapies aim to treat both pigmentation and photoaging simultaneously. The authors conclude that the future of melasma care lies in multi-target, combination and personalised approaches, rather than one-size-fits-all treatment.
See you next month!
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