Twenty-two adults each had half their face treated with a laser, and the other half left alone. Nine months of tracking later, Candela Corporation says the treated skin had changed at the level of its DNA chemistry.
The company announced on June 30 that a peer-reviewed paper in Scientific Reports, a Nature Portfolio journal, backs up that claim. The device is its Nordlys 1940 nm non-ablative fractional laser. The research was done with Mitra Bio and the Candela Institute for Excellence, which is Candela’s own research and education arm. Candela describes it as the first in vivo human evidence that the laser changes the skin’s epigenetic signature.
What the researchers measured
The team looked at DNA methylation, the chemical switches that regulate genes and that shift with age. They profiled more than 3.8 million CpG sites per sample. At 83.9% of the sites most strongly tied to skin aging, treatment moved methylation in a direction that signals biological age reversal, according to the company.
The effect grew over time. A total of 635 differentially methylated regions appeared one month after the treatment series, more by three months, and they were still present and stabilizing at six months.
Visible results
The skin looked different, too. Using VISIA imaging, researchers found brown-spot counts on the treated side fell by a median of 38% at one month, significantly more than on the untreated side. Texture and overall pigmentation also improved. Candela says the visible gains tracked gene pathways involved in epidermal differentiation, collagen regeneration, collagen organization and skin barrier integrity.
The skin cancer angle
The laser also shifted methylation at several genes that regulate keratinocytes: FGFR3, HOXB4, UBE2I, and PPP1R18/PPP1R26. Candela says those genes are tied to basal and squamous cell skin cancers. The company points to an earlier study, published in Dermatologic Surgery in 2023, linking non-ablative fractional laser treatment to a lower risk of later facial keratinocyte carcinoma.
“Physicians have seen that Nordlys treatments do more than improve the skin’s appearance and until now, we could not fully explain why,” said Dr. Konika Patel Schallen, the lead author and Candela’s senior vice president of global clinical operations. She called the work “an important first step toward understanding the biology beneath what we observe in the clinic.”
Dr. Cristiana Banila, chief scientific officer and co-founder of Mitra Bio and a co-author, said the changes were “not only directional, opposing the patterns we associate with aging, but also durable and strengthening over months.”
Candela chief executive Geoff Crouse said the company intends to lead “beyond the cosmetic realm and into regenerative medicine, skin health, and longevity.”
