Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 Jan 10;14(1):949.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-51133-w.

Targeting the dermis for melasma maintenance treatment

Hee Jeong Han  1 , Jin Cheol Kim  1 , Young Joon Park  1 , Hee Young Kang  2
Affiliations

Targeting the dermis for melasma maintenance treatment

Hee Jeong Han et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

Melasma relapse is almost common after discontinuation of conventional treatment. Recent studies suggesting that photoaging dermis is the main pathomechanism of melasma, emphasize the dermal targeting therapy. We investigated maintenance effect of microneedling radiofrequency (RF) for melasma treatment. Subjects with melasma were administered oral tranexamic acid and triple combination cream for 2 months and a randomly assigned half face was treated with RF. After discontinuation of conventional therapy, the half face RF continued monthly over 6 months. Modified melasma area severity index (mMASI) score and L* value by a chromameter were collected monthly. Fifteen subjects were enrolled and eleven completed the 8-month study. At 2nd month of conventional therapy, all subjects showed improvement with a 64% reduction in mMASI score. With continuous RF treatment, the improvement was well maintained; whereas in untreated side, the Δ L* gradually decreased, returning to the baseline after the conventional therapy ended. The continuous microneedling RF therapy is beneficial in maintaining the conventional therapy of melasma suggesting the protective effect of dermal targeting therapy in melasma development.(Clinical Trial registration number: NCT05710068, date of first registration: 02/02/2023).

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow diagram of the study.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Efficacy of conventional and maintenance treatments in a 46-year-old woman with melasma. The combination therapy of oral tranexamic acid and triple combination cream markedly improved the melasma (a–e). The improvement maintained on the radiofrequency treated side (f) after discontinuation of conventional therapy, whereas it returned to the baseline on the untreated side (c).
Figure 3
Figure 3
The continuous radiofrequency treatment maintains the treatment effect of conventional therapy. After discontinuation of conventional therapy, Δ L* on RF treated side maintained above 2.7 through the study duration *p < 0.01.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Timeline of the intervention in the study.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Kang HY, Ortonne JP. What should be considered in treatment of melasma. Ann. Dermatol. 2010;22(4):373–378. doi: 10.5021/ad.2010.22.4.373. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Pennitz A, Kinberger M, Avila Valle G, Passeron T, Nast A, Werner RN. Self-applied topical interventions for melasma: A systematic review and meta-analysis of data from randomized, investigator-blinded clinical trials. Br. J. Dermatol. 2022;187(3):309–317. doi: 10.1111/bjd.21244. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Lee HC, Thng TG, Goh CL. Oral tranexamic acid (TA) in the treatment of melasma: A retrospective analysis. J. Am. Acad. Dermatol. 2016;75(2):385–392. doi: 10.1016/j.jaad.2016.03.001. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Bala HR, Lee S, Wong C, Pandya AG, Rodrigues M. Oral tranexamic acid for the treatment of melasma: A review. Dermatol. Surg. 2018;44(6):814–825. doi: 10.1097/DSS.0000000000001518. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Del Rosario E, Florez-Pollack S, Zapata L, Jr, Hernandez K, Tovar-Garza A, Rodrigues M, et al. Randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind study of oral tranexamic acid in the treatment of moderate-to-severe melasma. J. Am. Acad. Dermatol. 2018;78(2):363–369. doi: 10.1016/j.jaad.2017.09.053. - DOI - PubMed

Associated data