PHOENIX – An investigational intense-therapy ultrasound device safely and effectively treated mild to moderate acne in a preliminary study.
The device, manufactured by Xthetix Inc., was used to treat 5-15 active acne lesions on one side of the face for 5 consecutive days in 18 women and 7 men with a mean age of 26 years. Of the patients, about 84% showed significant improvement after five treatment sessions.
Photo courtesy Dr. Bill Halmi
A patient is shown at treatment days 1 (left), 4 (middle), and 8 (right).
According to a poster presented during the annual meeting of the American Society for Laser Medicine and Surgery, energy generated by the device is delivered to the level of the sebaceous gland, "raising the temperature 5-15 degrees Celsius above ambient skin temperature. It is designed not to cause thermal coagulation, but to increase the tissue temperature for a period of time sufficient to produce a therapeutic effect."
In an interview, lead investigator Dr. Bill Halmi said that although there are a few devices currently on the market that use heat to reduce the duration of an inflammatory acne papule, the machine uses ultrasound to heat the targeted area.
"Putting the energy intradermally into the pilosebaceous unit is the unique aspect of the device," he said. "It changes the inner workings of the gland, kills bacteria, [and] peaks the inflammatory process, among other things."
Each treatment session lasted about 15 minutes. The contralateral side of the face did not receive any ultrasound treatment and served as the control.
The researchers took photographs on all visit days and a masked reviewer conducted posttreatment and facial acne assessments at every visit. Each patient completed daily pain and acne assessments.
Dr. Halmi, who practices dermatology in Phoenix, reported that the greatest percentage of lesion clearance (30%) occurred on day 4 of treatment. "This differs from 'blue light' devices that expect to see improvements after at least 1 week of treatment," he said. "Going into the study we really weren't certain that we would see an immediate effect from the device. We were certainly pleased to discover that this ultrasound device measurably reduced the duration of an acne lesion."
A majority of patients (84%) reported moderate to significant improvement of their treated sides during the course of treatment, while 40% experienced mild transient erythema that lasted less than 30 minutes. The average pain score was 3 on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the most severe.
The findings suggest that "there is a role for heat in reducing the duration of an acne lesion," Dr. Halmi said. "The advantage ultrasound has is that it can target that heat to the depth desired."
He cautioned that the study is preliminary and that, while encouraging, "repeated studies using more patients will help confirm our findings. Additionally, the role of ultrasound in the prophylactic treatment of acne remains to be revealed."
Dr. Halmi disclosed that he is a paid consultant for Xthetix.