Effects of an Electroporation-Based At-Home Beauty Device Used with a Cosmetic Product on Skin Appearance and Quality

Electroporation (EP) can modulate the skin barrier, but clinical evidence for EP-based at-home beauty devices used with cosmetic products remains limited. This exploratory study evaluated whether adding an EP-based at-home beauty device to a polydeoxyribonucleotide (PDRN)-containing cosmetic product was associated with additional changes. Permeability was assessed in a cultured human skin tissue model using caffeine, a small-molecule model compound. A 4-week split-face study was conducted in 22 healthy Korean women. The cosmetic product was applied to the entire face, and the device was applied only to the left side. In the tissue model, caffeine permeability was significantly higher in the test group at all time points after Holm adjustment. In the human study, the device–cosmetic side showed greater improvements than the cosmetic side in skin gloss (mean change difference, 5.091 SGU; 95% CI, 2.917–7.265), melanin content (−4.897 A.U.; 95% CI, −7.333 to −2.461), and skin brightness, although the L* difference was small (0.618 A.U.; 95% CI, 0.286–0.950) (p < 0.05). No product-related adverse skin reactions were reported. These findings suggest supportive effects of EP-based devices under cosmetic-use conditions; however, caffeine results cannot be directly extrapolated to macromolecules such as PDRN, and direct intradermal absorption and long-term effects require further evaluation.