Engineers at Dow Corning developed polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) for use inside the body - in catheters, tubing, pacemaker leads, and eventually breast implants. The goal was a material that the body would simply not react to. It succeeded.

Medical-grade PDMS became one of the most extensively tested biomaterials in history - over 70 years of use as an implant and device material, not just a topical one.

Perkins, Davey, and Wallis at the Adelaide Children's Hospital were the first to document topical silicone gel sheeting on human skin in a clinical setting. They were treating hypertrophic burn scars in pediatric patients - not cosmetic skin concerns.

They found that silicone gel sheeting flattened and softened raised burn scars without chemicals, without needles, and without surgical intervention.

Quinn and colleagues measured transepidermal water loss (TEWL) - the rate at which water vapor escapes through the skin surface - before and after silicone gel sheeting. This was the first real quantification of the mechanism.

Silicone gel sheeting measurably reduced water evaporation from scarred skin and increased stratum corneum hydration. The effect had nothing to do with pressure, oxygen levels, or blood flow - just moisture retention.

Ahn, Monafo, and Mustoe at Northwestern University conducted the first within-subject controlled trials in surgical scar patients. One side of a scar was treated; the other was not. The results were measured objectively - not just self-reported.

Silicone gel sheeting significantly reduced scar volume and increased elasticity in treated areas compared to untreated controls. These were not cosmetic claims - they were measured biopsies and clinical assessments.

Chang and colleagues ran a carefully controlled lab experiment - a two-chamber co-culture model - to isolate exactly what was affecting fibroblast activity. They tested silicone oil alone, hydration alone, and both together.

Hydrating the keratinocyte layer reduced fibroblast collagen output significantly. Silicone oil applied without hydration did not reproduce the effect. The conclusion was clear: the mechanism is the occlusion-induced moisture, not silicone's own chemistry.

Suetake and colleagues measured exactly how occlusive silicone gel sheeting actually is - compared to a fully waterproof film and to no dressing at all. The finding was surprisingly precise.

Silicone is semi-occlusive, not fully occlusive. The hydration effect decreases with repeated use - consistent with restoration of normal barrier function, not waterlogging. Fully impermeable dressings, meanwhile, can cause maceration. The intermediate occlusion of PDMS is the therapeutic sweet spot.

An International Advisory Panel reviewed the entire body of evidence for non-invasive scar treatments: pressure garments, onion extract gels, oils, massage, and silicone. They were looking for something they could formally recommend in clinical guidelines.

Silicone gel sheeting was the only treatment for which sufficient evidence existed to make a recommendation. It was endorsed as the first-line non-invasive option for prevention and treatment of hypertrophic scars and keloids.

Thomas Mustoe - one of the authors of the 2002 international guidelines - published a comprehensive review synthesizing everything the field had learned about how and why silicone works on skin. It remains a widely cited explanation of the mechanism.

The silicone patch creates a microclimate. TEWL normalizes. Keratinocyte stress signals drop. Fibroblasts reduce collagen overproduction. Skin appearance improves progressively with consistent use.

Ud-Din and colleagues at the University of Manchester ran the only controlled peer-reviewed trial applying silicone gel specifically to striae distensae (stretch marks). They took biopsies. They used non-invasive imaging. They measured collagen, melanin, haemoglobin, and vascular count - before, during, and after a six-week period.

The silicone-treated side showed significantly higher collagen levels (p=0.001) and lower melanin levels (p=0.048) compared to a water-based placebo. The authors described this as "preliminary evidence" that silicone gel may be useful in striae management.

An international expert panel led by Monstrey re-evaluated the evidence base for scar treatments - incorporating all the new research published since 2002. They produced updated practical guidelines for both non-invasive and invasive scar management.

Silicone sheeting and gel were reaffirmed as the universally recommended first-line prophylactic and therapeutic non-invasive option. Twelve more years of research had not changed the top recommendation.

Cochrane systematic reviews are considered the gold standard in evidence-based medicine - they pool and re-analyze all available trials with strict quality criteria. The 2021 update on silicone gel sheeting is the most current and comprehensive assessment available. In the same year, German dermatologists published their national S2k guideline update.

The Cochrane review confirmed silicone as the best-supported non-invasive scar therapy available. The German S2k guideline awarded it a Level A recommendation - the highest evidence grade - for hypertrophic scar prophylaxis and first-line therapy.

Dermaclara was founded in San Diego with one founding principle: the occlusion science behind surgical scar management belongs in everyday skin care, in a form anyone can use, without a prescription. The product had to be simple, ingredient-free, and honest about what it does.

People started sharing their experiences on social media - mothers postpartum, women after C-sections, people who had tried everything else. They were not clinical results. They were real skin, real time, real people reporting what they noticed. Individual experiences varied, as they always do.

By 2026, the science of silicone occlusion was no longer new. The material had decades of medical use behind it, years of scar-care research, international guideline support in hypertrophic scar contexts, and independent Dermaclara clinical evaluations showing measurable results in cosmetic skin applications. 

But clinical science can only tell part of the story. A study can measure the average. It can show what happened across a group. It can report significance, percentages, and clinical grading. What it cannot do is answer the most personal question in skin care:

Will my skin respond?

That is the question Dermaclara decided to stand behind.

In 2026, Dermaclara expanded its mission from proving the science to reducing the risk of trying it. Customers were invited to experience medical-grade silicone occlusion at home, consistently, on their own skin, with a simple promise:

Try Dermaclara for 30 days. If you are not fully satisfied, return it for your money back.