Microneedling with topical medication safe, effective melasma treatment
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Microneedling with topical therapy is a safe and effective tool for the treatment of melasma, according to a presentation at the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery virtual meeting.
“Our review found that microneedling alone, without any topical treatments, results in a 23% to 29% improvement in melasma,” Marcus G. Tan, MD, a resident at the University of Ottawa, said. “Adding topical treatments in general to microneedling resulted in greater improvements in melasma severity.”
Researchers conducted a combined systemic review and meta-analysis of 12 eligible studies, which included 459 patients from seven countries and the keywords “melasma” and “microneedling.”
Topical therapies studies included topical tranexamic acid, vitamin C, platelet rich plasma, non-hydroquinone-based depigmentation serums and hydroquinone-based depigmentation agents.
Combining microneedling with topical medications saw a moderately positive effect at week 8 (standardized mean difference [SMD] = 0.45; 95% CI, 0.04-0.86) and a large effect at week 12 (SMD = 1.04; 95% CI, 0.6-1.48).
It had a similar efficacy to fractional CO2 laser and intradermal microinjections with topical therapies.
“Microneedling can be a safe, effective and relatively affordable modality best used in combination with topical medications for the treatment of melasma,” Tan said.
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Tan MG, et al. Microneedling as an adjunctive to topical therapies for melasma: A systemic review and meta-analysis. American Society for Dermatologic Surgery meeting; Nov. 19-21, 2021 (virtual meeting).
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