Does Tepso clothing really work? A study

Can clothes help to heal you skin?

It can be difficult to know whether clothing is genuinely effective in managing skin conditions. Can wearing specific textiles actually improve your skin or is it just that some textiles make it worse, so need to be avoided? The common advice is that eczema and psoriasis sufferers should wear cotton clothing as it is light, breathable and the soft fibres don't irritate sensitive skin. And this advice works well for most people - wearing cotton typically doesn't aggravate skin conditions like eczema and psoriasis. But could switching your cotton clothing actually help to make your skin better? The team developing the Tepso clothing range decided to find out with a randomised control study.

The study

This study involved patients from the dermatology departments of 3 hospitals and a number of clinics in Italy. The study compared the effect of using Tepso socks against regular 100% cotton socks in the management of psoriasis pustulosa, a skin condition similar to discoid eczema that typically affects the feet of psoriasis patients.

Each of the study participants received 10 pairs of socks, of which one was made from normal cotton, and one from Tepso® fibre. After an initial assessment, the patients consistently wore the Tepso socks on one foot and the cotton socks on the other foot for a 4 week period. At the end of the 4 weeks the patients' skin was re-assessed.

The results: Yes, clothes can help heal your skin

  • The average lesion reduction rate is 42.6 % with the Tepso® fibre and only 2.7 % with cotton.
  • Patients assess the average pathological state as 29.2 % better with Tepso®.
  • The assessments of the effects on daily life were also stated with an average improvement of 12.5%.
  • The improvement in overall satisfaction was stated with a median parameter of 20% in favour of Tepso®.
The study concluded that the well-being of patients with skin conditions like psoriasis or atopic dermatitis or eczema can be significantly improved by using adapted textiles. Furthermore, a statistically significant difference in the effects on lesion size was found between cotton socks and Tepso® socks.

You can read the full, peer reviewed study here: Journal of Dermatology