Speaker Alycia Smith

Acne Vulgaris is an extremely common inflammatory disease of the pilosebaceous unit that occurs primarily in adolescents but can persist well into adulthood for a portion of the population. There is no current ideal treatment for acne vulgaris, as many mainstay prescription treatment modalities can compromise the skin microbiome or have long-term deleterious health effects. Further research is needed to investigate novel treatment modalities that account for the importance of the skin microbiome when treating acne patients. Other developing treatment modalities for acne are still taking a similar mode of action as current treatments by trying to eliminate Cutibacterium acnes despite growing evidence that some C. acnes strains may be symbiotic in nature. The perception that microneedling will exacerbate the disease state and trigger more acneic lesions via the spread of acne-associated microbes has hindered research into investigating if microneedling is a safe and effective treatment for acne.

Presented in this session is a pilot clinical study that challenges such perceptions by clinical assessment to determine if microneedling may produce beneficial treatment outcomes without disruption of critical skin structure or of the skin microbiome