The efficacy of a special night-time brassiere designed to reduce the formation of wrinkles in the décolleté was investigated by the scientists at the Hohenstein Institute in Bönnigheim on behalf of the developer of the product, the company Fixinator e.K. from the German state of Baden-Württemberg. In the framework of their exploratory study involving wearing of the garment, they discovered that the special design of the bra can help avoid wrinkles in the décolleté area if worn at night on a regular basis.
This new product is said to be of particular benefit to women aged between 30 and 60 years who sleep on their sides and have a medium to large bust size. These were the criteria adopted by the team under Prof. Dirk Höfer when selecting 10 subjects for the six-week wearer trial. The study started by establishing control values for reddening of the skin and the transepidermal water loss (TEWL) in the chest area of these persons as the basis for assessing the barrier function of the skin. The decolleté of each woman was photographed by the experts from Hohenstein. Images were also made of the skin and measured in detail using a special camera. All initial values were compared with the results after six weeks' usage of the special brassiere. The subjects also completed a questionnaire to provide an assessment of how the garment felt to wear and their subjective opinion of the level of support it afforded.
According to the analysis there was a tendency towards a reduction in the appearance of wrinkles. During the test period no measurable skin irritation was observed or any adverse effects of the bra on the skin barrier. Given the sample size of 10 subjects and the test period of 6 weeks, no significant changes in the profile of wrinkles in the décolleté area of the subjects were to be expected here. The exploratory values of the wearer study however revealed a trend and so lead to an assumption that wrinkles can be avoided if the special brassiere is worn for a longer period on a preventative basis. A special skin probe is used to determine reddening of the skin and transepidermal water loss (TEWL) as the basis for assessing the barrier function of the skin.
