The Consumer Council has questioned the safety of a fashionable beauty treatment that entails pressing tiny needles into the skin.

The council said on Monday that the procedure has no medical evidence to support its efficacy and warned the so-called Microneedle Therapy System may cause bacterial infections.

Philip Leung Kwong-hon, of the council's publicity and community relations committee, said that the council has received 43 complaints related to microneedle therapy since December 2007.

Ten of those complaints reported varying degrees of skin problems, such as itching, redness, dryness, peeling, pain, rash, aggravated acne, inflammation of pores, and dermatitis.

Connie Lau, chief executive of the council, noted that it cost the complainants over HK$580,000 in total to purchase the package services provided by beauty salons.

Microneedle therapy uses a roller or stamp with many fine needles to roll over or press on areas of skin, in order to allow the needles to penetrate the skin and to create micro-wounds or so-called "channels".

Proponents claim the wounds can stimulate the production of collagen and enhance the absorption of skin care products.

The invasive therapy labeled as low-risk is said to cause no permanent injury.

There are also DIY kits available on the market for people to conduct the procedure at home.

The Consumer Council, however, said the effectiveness of using microneedles to improve skin condition is "questionable".

It remains unclear whether applying microneedles on the same areas of skin may cause an immune response. And it definitely has no immediate effect, Leung said.

Some microneedle products claim to have obtained US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval or are in compliance with the Good Manufacturing Practice Certificate. That only means its functional performance or production process is certified, but not its beauty effect, Lau said.

In fact, piercing skin may cause swelling, redness, burning sensations, pain, and inflammation, which will last three to 14 days. The longer the fine needles, the greater will be the pain and the longer it will take to recover, Leung warned.

"It is a quite high-risk beauty treatment," Leung said.

Reporters heard an account of a woman who bought a 20-treatment microneedle beauty package in a salon for HK$13,600.

Her face soon became red and swollen after two treatments. A doctor confirmed she had contracted dermatitis. The woman had to undergo treatment with antibiotics for a month, Leung recounted.

The sharing and reuse of needles may also greatly increase the chances of serious viral or bacterial infection, even HIV infection and hepatitis, he said.

The council advises people not to undertake do-it-yourself microneedles therapy, because it's difficult to disinfect the needles properly at home, and it requires high-level technique to handle the invasive needles.

guojiaxue@chinadailyhk.com

China Daily

(HK Edition 08/16/2011 page1)