## 3 Results
### Microbiome Analysis
#### 3.3.1 Rarefaction Curve Analysis  
The skin microbial diversity of the control and treatment groups was assessed. The microbial richness was increased in Cpost and Tpost samples compared to their respective baseline samples (Figure 1A,B). \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{l l l l l} \hline \hline
**Parameters** & **Coefficients** & **Confidence Interval (95\%)** & \(p\)**-Value** \\ \hline Treatment compared to placebo & \(-2.494\) & \(-3.605\) to \(-1.383\) & \(<\)0.0001 \\ Gender (Female compared to male) & \(0.498\) & \(-0.675\) to \(1.671\) & \(0.397\) \\ Age & \(0.013\) & \(-0.043\) to \(0.069\) & \(0.643\) \\ BMI & \(-0.088\) & \(-0.285\) to \(0.109\) & \(0.373\) \\ TEWL in placebo & \(0.571\) & \(0.293\) to \(0.849\) & \(<\)0.0001 \\ Constant & \(3.905\) & \(-1.035\) to \(8.846\) & \(0.118\) \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 4: Linear regression analysis of changes in the transepidermal water loss (TEWL) after 4 h of treatment. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{l l l l l} \hline \hline
**Group** & **Measurement Time** & **TEWL (mg (Water)/m\({}^{2}\)/h)** & \(p\)**-Value** & **SCM (Au)** & \(p\)**-Value** \\ \hline \multirow{4}{*}{Placebo (\(n=25\))} & Baseline & \(7.30\pm 0.43\) & & \(34.07\pm 1.97\) & \\  & 1 st h & \(6.53\pm 0.49\)\({}^{*}\) & \(0.1181\) & \(32.10\pm 2.37\)\({}^{\text{a}}\) & \(0.4512\) \\  & 2 nd h & \(6.86\pm 0.33\)\({}^{\text{a}}\) & \(0.7672\) & \(36.32\pm 2.54\)\({}^{\text{a}}\) & \(0.3745\) \\  & 3 rd h & \(7.10\pm 0.32\)\({}^{\text{a}}\) & \(0.9463\) & \(35.59\pm 2.43\)\({}^{\text{b}}\) & \(0.2864\) \\  & 4 th h & \(6.79\pm 0.39\)\({}^{\text{a}}\) & \(0.6664\) & \(34.99\pm 2.23\)\({}^{\text{b}}\) & \(0.5289\) \\  & 4 th week & \(6.93\pm 0.36\)\({}^{\text{*}}\) & \(0.4084\) & \(32.80\pm 1.60\)\({}^{\text{b}}\) & \(0.5724\) \\ \hline \multirow{4}{*}{Treatment (\(n=25\))} & Baseline & \(7.81\pm 0.36\) & & \(30.18\pm 2.28\) & \\  & 1 st h & \(3.41\pm 0.50\)\({}^{*}\) & \(<\)0.0001 & \(54.83\pm 3.46\)\({}^{\text{b}}\) & \(<\)0.0001 \({}^{*}\) \\ \cline{1-1}  & 2 nd h & \(3.46\pm 0.53\)\({}^{*}\) & \(<\)0.0001 & \(51.99\pm 3.57\)\({}^{\text{b}}\) & \(<\)0.0001 \({}^{*}\) \\ \cline{1-1}  & 3 rd h & \(4.21\pm 0.57\)\({}^{*}\) & \(<\)0.0001 & \(48.42\pm 3.40\)\({}^{\text{b}}\) & \(<\)0.0001 \({}^{*}\) \\ \cline{1-1}  & 4 th h & \(4.62\pm 0.47\)\({}^{*}\) & \(<\)0.0001 & \(44.24\pm 3.02\)\({}^{\text{b}}\) & \(<\)0.0001 \({}^{*}\) \\ \cline{1-1}  & 4 th week & \(5.91\pm 0.35\)\({}^{*}\) & \(<\)0.0001 & \(35.96\pm 1.93\)\({}^{\text{b}}\) & \(0.0007 \({}^{*}\) \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 2: The changes in the studied parameters within the group at different times. The values are expressed as the mean \(\pm\) SE. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{l l l l l} \hline \hline
**Parameters** & **Comparison Time** & **Placebo (\(n=25\))** & **Treatment (\(n=25\))** & \(p\)**-Value** \\ \hline \multirow{4}{*}{TEWL (mg(water)/m\({}^{2}\)/hour)} & Baseline to 1 st h & \(0.77\pm 0.47\) & \(4.40\pm 0.38\) & \\  & Baseline to 2 nd h & \(0.44\pm 0.34\) & \(4.34\pm 0.46\) & \(<\)0.0001 \({}^{*}\) \\ \cline{1-1}  & Baseline to 3 rd h & \(0.20\pm 0.31\) & \(3.60\pm 0.46\) & \(<\)0.0001 \({}^{*}\) \\ \cline{1-1}  & Baseline to 4 th h & \(0.51\pm 0.42\) & \(3.18\pm 0.38\) & \(<\)0.0001 \({}^{*}\) \\ \cline{1-1}  & Baseline to 4 th week & \(0.37\pm 0.44\) & \(1.90\pm 0.28\) & \(0.0054 \({}^{*}\) \\ \hline \multirow{4}{*}{SCM (Au)} & 1 st h to Baseline & \(-1.96\pm 1.46\) & \(24.64\pm 2.53\) & \\  & 2 nd h to Baseline & \(2.25\pm 1.81\) & \(21.80\pm 2.07\) & \(<\)0.0001 \({}^{*}\) \\ \cline{1-1}  & 3 rd h to Baseline & \(1.52\pm 1.40\) & \(18.24\pm 2.53\) & \(<\)0.0001 \({}^{*}\) \\ \cline{1-1}  & 4 th h to Baseline & \(0.92\pm 1.45\) & \(14.05\pm 1.91\) & \(<\)0.0001 \({}^{*}\) \\ \cline{1-1}  & 4 th week to Baseline & \(-1.27\pm 2.22\) & \(5.77\pm 1.49\) & \(0.0114 \({}^{*}\) \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 3: The comparison of the changes in the studied parameters between the groups at different times is expressed as the mean difference.