A Novel Facial Cream Based on Skin Penetrable Hemp Oil Microparticles

Objective: Hemp seed oil is perfect for most skin types; it moisturizes skin and protects it from inflammation, oxidation, and other causes of aging. The problem is that the Hemp oil-based products do not penetrate the skin; they remain on the skin’s surface. Recently researchers have been trying to prepare nano emulsions of hemp oil to facilitate its permeation to deep skin layers. In all techniques used today, surfactants are added to the emulsification process. These surfactants may cause unwanted skin side effects. In the present study, we prepare micronized Hemp (m-Hemp) without using any surfactants in the micronization process, thus avoiding the side effects associated with surfactant addition. Methods & Results: Particles size of m-Hemp was evaluated using electron microscopy. Various sizes of m-Hemp were found, the smallest being 100 nm in diameter. The antioxidation properties of m-Hemp were measured using the Electron Spin Resonance (ESR) technique and were found to be enhanced. Skin topography and morphology following a cream containing m-Hemp treatment were visualized by Optical Profilometry and ESEM respectively. The results show a marked improvement in skin topography in all measured parameters. In addition, human keratinocytes (HaCaT) were exposed to inflammatory conditions and were then treated using Hemp. As a result, one of the key inflammatory factors (IL-2) was significantly reduced after treatment with m-Hemp (p ≤ 0.0001). The skin penetration of the cream containing m-Hemp was tested on human skin using the IMOPE (Iterative Multi-plane Optical Property Extraction) system. The results indicate that m-Hemp penetrates both the stratum corneum and the deep epidermal layers towards the dermis. Conclusion: The new cream prepared with micronized Hemp shows significant anti-inflammatory and antioxidative effects and demonstrates the entrance of m-Hemp to the skin epidermal layer.