Serum levels of IGF-1 are related to human skin characteristics including the conspicuousness of facial pores

Synopsis Conspicuous facial pores are one type of serious aesthetic defects for many women. However, the mechanism(s) that underlie the conspicuousness of facial pores remains unclear. We previously characterized the epidermal architecture around facial pores that correlates with the appearance of those pores in various ethnic groups including Japanese. The goal of this study was to evaluate the possible relationships between facial pore size, the severity of impairment of epidermal architecture around facial pores and sebum output levels to investigate the possible role of IGF‐1 in the pathogenesis of conspicuous facial pores. The subjects consisted of 38 healthy Japanese women (aged 22–41 years). IGF‐1 was measured using immunoradiometric assay. Surface replicas were collected to compare pore sizes of cheek skin and horizontal cross‐section images of cheek skin were obtained non‐invasively from the same subjects using in vivo confocal laser scanning microscopy and the severity of impairment of epidermal architecture around facial pores was determined. The skin surface lipids of each subject were collected from their cheeks and lipid classes were determined using gas chromatography/flame ionization detection. The serum level of IGF‐1 correlated significantly with total pore area ( R = 0.36, P < 0.05), with the severity of impairment of epidermal architecture around facial pores ( R = 0.43, P < 0.05) and with sebum output levels ( R = 0.41, P < 0.01). The sebum output levels correlated with total pore area ( R = 0.32, P < 0.05). Our study found that serum levels of IGF‐1 are correlated with facial skin characteristics including facial pore size and with the severity of impairment of epidermal architecture around facial pores.