'Smart' clothes claim to turn harmful UV light into therapeutic light for sun-damaged skin

Toronto, Canada-based SunSoul Inc. recently launched a clothing line in the U.S. which, the company claims, changes the sun's harmful rays into therapeutic, skin-rejuvenating light. And while the clothing's true effect on the skin has not yet been extensively studied, one small, unpublished study suggests a measure of aesthetic success.

THE CONCEPT According to SunSoul Founder and Chairman Michael Kreindel, Ph.D., a physicist, it's well-known that low-intensity yellow light

stimulates fibroblast growth and improves skin appearance. This is the reason that physicians use light-based devices in their practices for skin rejuvenation. SunSoul's yelomöd products, sold through physicians' offices, amplify the delivery of yellow light generated by the sun through the material to the skin.

ILLUSTRATION CREDIT: SUNSOUL, INC.

"We found that the photo treatment effect of the yelomöd material is comparable with [outcomes from treatment with] professional light therapy devices," he says. "We've also done clinical trials in a controlled environment supervised by a cosmetic surgeon."

Such aesthetically enhancing "smart" clothes, according to Dr. Kreindel, are all about the fabric. Made from densely woven fibers to block harmful UV rays, it is also transparent?for yellow light. The fluorescent pigment embedded into the fibers absorbs the UV rays while amplifying the transmission of the rejuvenating, beneficial yellow rays, he explains.

ADJUNCTIVE THERAPY? According to Dr. Kreindel, cosmetic surgeons can use the clothing line as an adjunct to skin rejuvenation therapy. "It protects the skin from UV radiation after treatment and also stimulates the healing process. SunSoul's clothing can be used to complement and maintain treatments done in the cosmetic surgeon's office," he says.

R. Stephen Mulholland, M.D., a plastic surgeon in Toronto, Canada, and in Los Angeles, and paid consultant to SunSoul, says he recommends the yelomöd line to patients after they've had a series of skin rejuvenation procedures and positions the garments to patients as an effective means to protect — and even improve upon — the clinical benefits of procedures performed in the office.

"For some patients,?who cannot perhaps afford an entire light-based program for their skin rejuvenation...the SunSoul garments provide a very affordable and clinically effective option," Dr. Mulholland tells Cosmetic Surgery Times .

His practices also sell SunSoul garments alone, as part of a home-based skin rejuvenation program.

"Given the full eight weeks of two to four hours per week of exposure, the majority of yelomöd patients will describe improvements in tone, texture and discoloration that rival what we have seen with gentle waves and photodynamic therapy," Dr. Mulholland says.