Study on the effect of algae from the Blue Lagoon on the skin

Bathing in the Blue Lagoon (BL) in Iceland offers benefits to patients with psoriasis. The BL water contains algae with biological activities that improve skin barrier function and influence T-cell responses relevant to psoriasis. BL bathing is also becoming increasingly popular among healthy people, and anecdotal evidence suggests positive effects on uneven skin pigmentation .

The aim of the study conducted by Susanne Grether-Beck et al. was to investigate the effects of BL algae on skin pigmentation.

In this work, in vitro gene expression studies in melanocytes and a non-invasive in vivo study were carried out.

Normal human epidermal melanocytes treated with nontoxic concentrations of BL algae showed significantly reduced expression of α-melanocyte-stimulating hormone-induced genes important for melanin synthesis, such as tyrosinase, tyrosinase-related protein 1, dopachrome tautomerase, melan A protein, and pre-melanosome protein.

This in vitro observation prompted the researchers to conduct a randomized, double-blind, intra-individual, comparative split-face in vivo study in which 60 volunteers with pre-existing facial pigmented spots were treated twice daily with a BL algae-containing serum or a vehicle control agent. They found that constitutive skin pigmentation, as determined by colorimetry (individual type angle and luminescence), showed no significant difference between the vehicle- and serum-treated skin sites. In sharp contrast, digital photography under crossed polarization and RBX technology (VISIA CR) showed that the number of pigment spots on the serum-treated side of the face was significantly reduced compared to the vehicle-treated side.

Thus, BL algae can affect the function of human melanocytes in vitro and reduce uneven facial skin pigmentation in vivo.