Acne scar treatment by drilling holes in the dermis

Dermal needle treatment in acne scars (poster)

Ertam I et al.

AAD 2015 Annual Meeting, San Francisco CA – United States

• Acne scars are the long-term visible sequelae of more or less severe active acne.
• The demand for its treatment is in our experience is quite high and reaches 20% of those who had treatment for active acne…even though its treatment is considered cosmetic and is therefore not covered by medical insurance.
• Treatment options include topicals (adapelene), chemical peels, lasers (fractionated and ablative), dermabrasion, subcision…and many more
• Dermal needle technique consists of small needles fixed on a sterile roller (dermaroller) to puncture the skin.
  • Needles are 1,5 to 2mm in thickness and traumatize the dermis.
  • The resulting microbruising, induces wound healing t¥which ends up in the production of collagen – and therefore act as « fillers » to the lost volume

Acne scars microneedling: before and after

• Author recommendations:
  • Results are seen 6 weeks-3 months after the treatment
  • 3 to 5 treatments are recommended spaced each by 4 weeks.

Methods

• inclusion of 10 patients (5male and 5 female) (19-48 years old, mean age 31 for females and 26 for males)
• 3 needling treatments each spaced by 4 weeks
• treated scars were generally boxcar and ice-pick scars
• photographs were done before and after treatments

Results

• Patients reported a 60% improvement in overall scar appearance

Conclusion

• No single treatment is simple and definitive and dermal microneedling is actually another treatment option.
• The full result may take 8-12 months to be optimal, and this corresponds to the maturation of scars of the wound healing process.

Contributors:

Dr Christophe HSU – dermatologist. Geneva, Switzerland