92 J. Cosmet. Sci., 74, 92–100 (March/April 2023) *Address all correspondence to Danqi Deng, danqid128@sina.com and Jiehao Qian, 825946043@qq.com The Effects of a Peptide Complex Cream for Improving Skin Photoaging QIAO TANG, WENTING CAO, WENFANG WANG, JICHUN YANG, JICHAO QIAN AND DANQI DENG Department of Dermatology and Venereology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Kunming, Yunnan, China (Q.T., W.C., W.W., D.D.) Dermatology Department, Medical Center Hospital of Qionglai, Chengdu, China (Q.T.) Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Population Medicine and Public Health, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China (J.Y.) Zhuhai Yasha Biotechnology Co, Ltd., Zhuhai, Guangdong, China (J.Q.) Accepted for publication July 1, 2023. Synopsis Bioactive peptides are different peptides composed of natural amino acids in different compositions and arrangements. They are now widely used in skin care products, but there are few studies on anti-photoaging. This article aims to investigate the efficacy of a peptide complex cream in the treatment of skin photoaging. 80 female subjects were recruited and assigned to 2 groups (40 in each group) based on a randomized, double- blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group protocol, and were topically treated with either a peptide complex cream or a base cream. Subjective assessment was done by a physician and a non-invasive skin examination was performed at weeks 0, 2, 4, 6, 8 during the treatment and then again 4 weeks after the treatment was complete. The results showed that there was no significant improvement in facial wrinkles and color spots in the peptide complex cream group, but there was significant facial improvement (P .05) in both the Dermoscopy Photoaging Scale (DPAS) scores and with acne. The peptide complex cream can safely and effectively improve some skin photoaging symptoms, but the effect on wrinkles and color spots is not obvious in the short term. INTRODUCTION Skin photoaging is a chronic inflammation of the skin caused by long-term exposure to ultraviolet radiation. It is clinically manifested by symptoms such as skin roughness, dryness, increased wrinkles, hyperpigmentation, laxity, and capillary dilation, with a small number of people developing benign or malignant skin tumors.1 The global anti-aging product market was estimated to have reached US $34.2 billion in 2020 and is expected to reach US $47.8 billion by 2027. Therefore, anti-skin photoaging is a very promising area of research.2