Witch Hazel Extract

Measured on: suppression of experimentally induced UV erythema after a single application, chromametry and visual scoring; the astringent/oiliness claim is untimed.

The one endpoint anyone has timed is soothing, in an induced-inflammation model rather than in the oily skin this is marketed for. In 30 volunteers, an aftersun lotion with 10% hamamelis distillate was applied occlusively to UVB-irradiated fields and read at 7, 24 and 48 h: erythema suppression ran from about 20% at 7 h to 27% at 48 h, against 11-15% for the drug-free vehicle and a comparator lotion, with significant differences between them; an independent group suppressed UV erythema at 24 h with a low-dose distillate in a phosphatidylcholine vehicle, and found that quadrupling the dose added nothing. Three cautions bound this. The same laboratory's larger 40-volunteer replication beat vehicle with only one of three hamamelis lotions at one of three UV doses, so the margin over vehicle is small and formulation-dependent. In real disease it disappeared: over 14 days in 72 patients with atopic eczema, hamamelis cream was no better than its own base and clearly inferior to hydrocortisone. And the tested material is the steam distillate standardised on hamamelis ketone, which is nearly tannin-free - not the tannin-rich extract this row's notes describe - while sebum, pore appearance and oiliness have never been measured over time at all.

Hughes-Formella et al., Dermatology 1998, 'Anti-inflammatory effect of hamamelis lotion in a UVB erythema test', 10% hamamelis distillate vs vehicle, readings at 7/24/48 h, PMID:9621139; Korting et al., Eur J Clin Pharmacol 1993, hamamelis distillate vs vehicle in UV and tape-strip erythema, PMID:8513841. Bounding evidence: Hughes-Formella et al., Skin Pharmacol Appl Skin Physiol 2002, largely null replication, PMID:11867970; Korting et al., Eur J Clin Pharmacol 1995, no better than base in atopic eczema over 14 days, PMID:8582464.