The Effects of Cosmetic Acupuncture

Using Professional Intelligent Skin Analyzers to Analyze the Effects of Cosmetic Acupuncture on Skin Health and Aging: A Randomized Controlled Trial

The study recruited 40 subjects and divided them into an intervention group and a waiting list group in a 1:1 ratio using a randomized controlled trial. The changes in skin health and aging-related indicators before and after TCM cosmetic acupuncture treatment were analyzed. The subjects are of all genders and aged between 30 and 60 years old. The TCM cosmetic acupuncture treatment is arranged twice a week for a three-week course. The study will conduct a skin test before and after the TCM cosmetic acupuncture, and use the Antera 3D smart skin detector to comprehensively evaluate the subjects' skin condition. Antera 3D Skin Detector can detect multiple skin indicators, including wrinkle depth, skin tone uniformity and subtle changes in the skin surface, melanin, red pigment, etc. After the treatment, the subjects' acceptance and satisfaction with TCM cosmetic acupuncture were collected.

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Aging; Skin Health
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Acupuncture

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 40
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Chia-Hui Lin; Phone Number: 886+910127501; Email: ffyeva@gmail.com

Study Locations

• Taiwan
  • Taichung, Taiwan, 40447
    • Recruiting
    • China Medical University Hospital
    • Contact: Chia-Hui Lin; Email: ffyeva@gmail.com

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• both female and male
• 30 to 60 years old
• never had acupuncture beauty treatment, or the last time they had acupuncture beauty treatment has been more than six months.

Exclusion Criteria:

• medical cosmetic fillers on their face
• cosmetic surgery
• needle sickness
• afraid of acupuncture
• wounds on the facial skin
• poor wound healing
• abnormal coagulation function
• severe diabetes
• keloids
• dialysis
• cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy or radiotherapy
• pregnant

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Cosmetic acupuncture group; accept treatment session	Other: Acupuncture; Cosmetic acupuncture
Other: Waitinglist for cosmetic acupuncture group; wait for 3 weeks then accept the same treatment session	Other: Acupuncture; Cosmetic acupuncture

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Face Skin Texture	Professional Intelligent Skin Analyzers accurately locate the comparison before and after cosmetic acupuncture sessions, showing high accuracy and reproducibility, analyzing Ra value (unit: µm) as arithmetic mean roughness of the skin's contours.	Intervention group: the 1st, 4th week; waiting list group: the 1st, 4th, and 7th week.
Face Skin Color	Professional Intelligent Skin Analyzers accurately locate the comparison before and after cosmetic acupuncture sessions, showing high accuracy and reproducibility, analyzing L*a*b value (no unit) as the skin's color. (L*: Lightness, a*: Red/Green Value, b*: Blue/Yellow Value)	Intervention group: the 1st, 4th week; waiting list group: the 1st, 4th, and 7th week.
Face Pore Size	Professional Intelligent Skin Analyzers accurately locate the comparison before and after cosmetic acupuncture sessions, showing high accuracy and reproducibility, analyzing average pore volume (unit: mm²).	Intervention group: the 1st, 4th week; waiting list group: the 1st, 4th, and 7th week.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
The Questionnaire of satisfaction and acceptance of cosmetic acupuncture	The questionnaire include three domains: 1. Visual Analogue Scale score measures pain intensity. The VAS consists of 10 points, with two end points representing 0 ("no pain") and 10 ("pain as bad as it could possibly be"). 2. The acceptance of cosmetic acupuncture has 0~4 points, 0 representing "unacceptable" and 4 representing "totally acceptable". 3. Facial Check Sheet(FCS) has 12 items about the satisfaction of the improvement of face appearance including wrinkles, laxity, facial shape, and pigmented spots, and so on. 0 representing "very dissatisfied" and 4 representing "very satisfied". Subjects can also choose "no need to pay attention" if they don't have the concerned problems of appearance.	Intervention group: the 4th week; waiting list group: the 7th week.

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: China Medical University Hospital

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): April 10, 2025
• Primary Completion (Estimated): March 31, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): March 31, 2026

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: April 10, 2025
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 29, 2025
• First Posted (Actual): May 1, 2025

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): May 1, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 29, 2025
• Last Verified: April 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: CMUH114-REC2-018

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No