JOURNAL OF COSMETIC SCIENCE 312 As far as skin smoothness is concerned, the highly signifi cant and clinically important improvement observed at the end of the trial on the whole thigh was similar for both tested products, active and placebo, suggesting a smoothing activity promoted by the vehicle. Instrumental evaluations confi rmed the effi cacy of the active formulation in counteract- ing the signs and symptoms of cellulite: Contact thermography • . The tested product induced a signifi cant (p0.01 vs baseline) reduction of 17% in the mean score of the thermographic stage of “cellulite.” The result proved to be close to statistical signifi cance in comparison to the placebo (p=0.0564). Table IV Statistical Analysis—Comparison of Placebo T0 to T4 Clinical evaluations of thigh—median/lower third Wilcoxon test T0 T4 p-value Signifi cance Visual appearance 1.30 ± 1.020 1.22 ± 1.085 0.1667 NS Appearance at pinching 2.04 ± 0.767 1.96 ± 0.825 0.1667 NS Firmness 2.30 ± 0.703 2.30 ± 0.703 1.0000 NS Smoothness 2.30 ± 0.926 3.48 ± 0.790 0.0001 p0.001 (**) Pain at pinching 0.17 ± 0.388 0.13 ± 0.344 0.3388 NS Table V Statistical Analysis—Comparison of ACTIVE T0 to T4 Clinical evaluations of thigh—upper third Wilcoxon test Time p-value Signifi cance Visual appearance T0-T4 0.0151 p0.05 Appearance at pinching T0-T4 0.0109 p0.05 Firmness T0-T4 0.0086 p0.05 Smoothness T0-T4 0.0001 p0.001 (**) Pain at pinching T0-T4 0.0481 p0.05 Table VI Statistical Analysis—Comparison of ACTIVE T0 to T4 Clinical evaluations of thigh—median/lower third Wilcoxon test Time p-value Signifi cance Visual appearance T0-T4 0.0086 p0.05 Appearance at pinching T0-T4 0.0151 p0.05 Firmness T0-T4 0.0880 p0.05 Smoothness T0-T4 0.0001 p0.001 (**) Pain at pinching T0-T4 0.0481 p0.05

EVALUATION OF ANTI-CELLULITE EFFICACY 313 Morphometric measurements of the thigh circumferences (upper, median, and lower third) • . A statistically signifi cant reduction, both versus baseline and placebo, was observed, in particular: 0.9-cm mean reduction in the upper third, 1.2-cm mean reduction of the median third, and 0.6-cm mean reduction in the lower third with the treatment (Figure 4). Skin plastoelasticity measured on the inner thigh for evaluation of elasticizing/fi rming effi cacy • . The torsiometric measurements (Ue, immediate extensibility Uf, maximum extensibility Uv, viscoelasticity Ur, immediate elastic recovery) were performed on the upper third of the inner thigh at T0 and T4. The active product resulted capable of inducing an Figure 2. Visual appearance with test cream [Wilcoxon test, p0.05 (*) vs T0 p0.01 (**) vs T0 p 0.05 (*) T4 ACTIVE vs T4 Placebo]. Figure 3. Pain at pinching with test cream [Wilcoxon test, p0.05 (*) vs, T0].