In vivo assessment of early effects of diamond-tipped microdermabrasion through the lens of line-field confocal optical coherence tomography

Shazli Razi; Thu Minh Truong; Samavia Khan; Bianca Sanabria; Babar Rao

doi:10.1111/jocd.16311

In vivo assessment of early effects of diamond-tipped microdermabrasion through the lens of line-field confocal optical coherence tomography

J Cosmet Dermatol. 2024 Mar 28. doi: 10.1111/jocd.16311. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Shazli Razi^{1

2}, Thu Minh Truong^{1

3

4}, Samavia Khan^{1

3

5}, Bianca Sanabria^{1

3

5}, Babar Rao^{1

3

6}

Affiliations

¹ Rao Dermatology, Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey, USA.
² Department of Internal Medicine, Jersey Shore University Medical Center, Neptune, New Jersey, USA.
³ Center for Dermatology, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Somerset, New Jersey, USA.
⁴ Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, New Jersey, USA.
⁵ Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Piscataway, New Jersey, USA.
⁶ Department of Dermatology, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, New York, USA.

PMID: 38545815
DOI: 10.1111/jocd.16311

Abstract

Background: Microdermabrasion is a cosmetic procedure that has gained popularity for skin rejuvenation by causing repetitive intraepidermal injury to stimulate the proliferation of fibroblasts and collagen production. Various clinical studies have demonstrated microdermabrasion's effectiveness in skin rejuvenation; however, most of these studies rely on clinical observation and scoring by observers rather than histologic or microscopic analysis. In our single-center prospective study, we used line-field confocal optical coherence tomography (LC-OCT), to non-invasively visualize the early effects of one microdermabrasion treatment on the facial epidermal and dermal structure.

Aim: Using LC-OCT, this study aims to elucidate the microscopic and histological effects of microdermabrasion on epidermal and dermal structures, including epidermal thickness, as well as collagen and vascular patterns.

Patients/methods: Eight volunteers (Fitzpatrick skin types II-V) underwent one treatment of microdermabrasion. LC-OCT and VISIA imaging were performed before and 10 min after microdermabrasion, and at 48-h follow-up. Subjective evaluations of skin texture and adverse reactions were assessed 1 week posttreatment via a telephone call.

Results: Compared to LC-OCT images before treatment, images captured after one treatment of microdermabrasion showed a decrease in thickness and number of undulations in the stratum corneum. In the superficial dermis, enhancement in fibrillar collagen, as demonstrated by an increased prominence of crisscrossing hyper-refractile strands, was visualized. This was consistent with subjective and objective improvement in facial rhytids calculated by VISIA skin analysis.

Conclusions: Treatment monitoring with LC-OCT demonstrated consistent histopathological changes with clinical visual improvement. Therefore, LC-OCT, has the potential to enable long-term histopathological monitoring of microdermabrasion and other cosmetic procedures without biopsy.

Keywords: cosmetic dermatology; histological evaluation; microdermabrasion.