Ethnopharmacological Survey on Medicinal Plants Used for Cosmetic Treatments in Traditional and Ayurveda Systems of Medicine in Sri Lanka

Medicinal plants have been used for therapeutic and beauty applications in Sri Lanka with documented history of over 2,500 years. This inherited knowledge, which has been handed down from generation to generation, provides a largely unexplored source for the potential development of active ingredients for cosmetic formulations. Therefore, the present comprehensive survey was conducted to identify cosmetic potential medicinal plants species in Sri Lanka. Personal interviews were conducted via a semistructured questionnaire with randomly selected 30 traditional practitioners and 90 Ayurveda physicians in Sri Lanka. Data were collected on plants and specific plant parts used for the treatment of skin care, hair care, and oral care topically. The acquired data were verified using the Ayurveda authentic books and quantitatively analyzed using relative frequency of citation (RFC), use value (UV), relative importance (RI), and factor informant consensus (FIC). Results revealed about the usage of 133 different plant species belonging to 64 families in cosmetic treatments under the categories of skin care, hair care, and oral care. Majority of medicinal plants were used in skin care treatments (39%) followed by hair care (20%) and oral care (17%). Aloe vera (L.) Burm.f. reported the highest RFC value (0.83) and UV (3.66). The highest RI value was reported from Asparagus racemosus Willd. and Hibiscus rosa-sinensis L. (1.67). The dominant plant family was reported as family Fabaceae. The most utilized plant part was stated as leaves (34%) followed by bark (14%). The survey further revealed about treatments for 17 skin-related, 9 hair-related, and 2 oral-related beauty issues. All RFC values were comparatively high for identified different beauty issues. Many herbal preparations were prepared using water as the medium whilst most common mode of application was reported as paste (37%). In conclusion, acquired information could ultimately be utilized for the development of the herbal cosmetic industry through the isolation and characterization of bioactive compounds from the documented plants while preserving the traditional knowledge.