A prospective study of the safety and efficacy of a combined bipolar radiofrequency, intense pulsed light, and infrared diode laser treatment for global facial photoaging

Abstract

The clinical features of photoaging include: skin texture changes, laxity, rhytides, pigmentary changes, and vascular changes such as erythema and telangiectasias. In order to meet patients' increasing demands for improving all aspects of photoaging at one office visit, employing a multi-modality treatment for all aspects of photoaging has become increasingly desirable for the physician and patient alike. We examine a novel device that employs bipolar radiofrequency (RF), intense pulsed light (IPL), and infrared diode laser. These laser and light source treatments are performed sequentially. This study aims to evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of this device (i.e., ELOS Triniti™). Twenty-six subjects received four ELOS Triniti™ treatments at 1-month intervals. They were followed up 1, 3, and 6 months after completing the treatments. Two blinded dermatologists used a comprehensive grading scale to evaluate the degree of the photoaging in terms of rhytides, laxity, dyschromia, erythema, telangiectasias, and texture. Subjects used a 0-10 grading scale for self-assessment of photoaging. Additionally, we measured the Erythema Index (EI), Melanin Index (MI), transepidermal water loss scores (TEWL), stratum corneum moisture scores (SC), and dermis moisture scores (D) before treatment and 1, 3, and 6 months after treatment. There was a statistically significant improvement in all five aspects of the comprehensive grading scale. Overall, it had excellent efficacy for improving erythema, telangiectasias, and skin texture. It also had a relatively long effect on improving skin laxity; however, it had only a limited ability to improve rhytides and dyschromia. It can mildly to moderately improve the global photoaging. This global effect can be noted 1 month after treatment and becomes most clinically apparent 3 months after treatment. This is maintained at least 6 months after treatment. MI index and SC and D values increased while EI index and TEWL values decreased after the treatment. The subjects' self-assessment improved by 2.7 ± 1.2 points. The overall satisfaction rate was 88%. The degree of pain measured 2.5 ± 1.9 points on average. There was no downtime and no severe side effects reported. The sequential implementation of bipolar radiofrequency based optical combination devices (IPL, IR, diode laser) is effective and safe for global facial photoaging.

Comparison of intense pulsed light and near‐infrared light in the treatment of dry eye disease: a prospective randomized study

“…And Arita et al (2015) noted that compared to traditional eyelid warming, the heat effect delivered by intense pulsed light is far more lasting and permeable. In addition, none adverse events had been found in our study, and the safety of IPL and NIL all have been proved in previous issues (Babilas et al 2010;Jiang et al 2016Jiang et al , 2017Schilling et al 2019;Toyos et al 2019;Yokoyama & Oku 1999).…”

“…It would also be interesting to investigate the influence of age and sex on the efficacy. More interestingly, IPL and NIL might be combined to gain an optimal response for treatment of DED, like for some other diseases (Jiang et al 2017;Schilling et al 2019). The different therapeutic mechanisms for IPL and NIL will be further aided by vitro studies of molecular biology.…”

“…More interestingly, IPL and NIL might be combined to gain an optimal response for treatment of DED, like for some other diseases (Jiang et al. 2017; Schilling et al. 2019).…”

Efficacy of noninvasive multisource radiofrequency treatment on periorbital rhytids using an imaging device

“…RF devices offer a non‐invasive way to improve wrinkles with little side effects and no downtime. Previous studies about periorbital rhytids, that have been treated by different types of RF devices, have been published . In this study, the VISIA device allowed us to document the minimal changes in periorbital wrinkles, and wrinkle score was calculated with the aid of a computer software that provided us with a 3D photo for close wrinkles observations.…”

Hallmarks of Aging in Macrophages: Consequences to Skin Inflammaging

“…Autophagy is a paramount process in the maintenance of skin homeostasis throughout aging, the consequences of age-related autophagy decay affecting different skin types, including LC. An example describing the consequences of the loss of proteostasis on aged skin is the change of elastin, collagen, and melanin levels [60][61][62] found in wrinkled and hypopigmented skin [60,63]. The balance in the composition of those proteins is essential for skin function and health and, interestingly, Mϕ play an important role in this context.…”