A Medical Device Daily

Obagi Medical Products (Long Beach, California) said that it is providing an unrestricted grant to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS; Arlington Heights, Illinois) for research on new and improved therapies to enhance healing and patient outcomes.

It is hoped that the study of pre- and post-skin conditioning of ablative laser procedures will result in potentially shortened healing rates, reduced adverse events and less visible scarring. The research may also help identify techniques that may enhance outcomes of those using such products for cosmetic therapeutic purposes.

“This is the first carefully constructed and monitored study conducted to measure results of pre- and post-treatment of the skin,“ said Brian Kinney, MD, president of the Plastic Surgery Educational Foundation, the research arm of ASPS. “We hope this research will validate anecdotal evidence that such treatment can reduce side effects such as redness and darkening of the skin while enhancing longer-lasting cosmetic results.“

Initial study findings are expected to be released at the ASPS annual meeting in San Francisco in October 2006.

Obagi develops and commercializes skin treatment products for the dermatology, plastic surgery, and related aesthetic and therapeutic markets to improve penetration of drug agents across the skin barrier for the prevention and correction of skin disorders in adult skin such as chloasma, melasma, senile lentigines, acne vulgaris and sun damage.