9 COMPARATIVE CLINICAL EVALUATION OF C LAPPACEA SKIN FIRMNESS AND SKIN RESILIENCE There was a statistically significant (p 0.01) decrease in R0 after 4 weeks of application in both the treatment and control groups, suggesting an improvement in skin firmness. However, there was no significant difference in the results between the C lappacea cream and the control product. R1 decreased significantly (p 0.05) in the C lappacea group but did not change significantly in the control group. This finding suggests that the C lappacea product was better than the control at returning the skin to its original state and thus at improving skin resilience. Figure 2. Mean MI at melasma (2a) and on normal skin (2b) between the control and treatment groups at 0, 2, 4, and 5 weeks (1 week after stopping treatment). Data are reported as mean ± standard deviation. Significant differences relative to baseline (week 0) and the control group are marked with asterisks (*p 0.05, **p 0.01).

10 JOURNAL OF COSMETIC SCIENCE Figure 3. (Continued)