Tixel for Skin Improvement

Not me either. There has to be a reason to use it and I still have a pretty good skin at 70 which surprises even me bc everyone I know who are my age are not that lucky. I still think it’s diet or could be rapamycin. Wondering when Im going to see real changes. At 75 maybe? :grinning:

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I keep thinking: if Tixel is really just about raising the temp of the skin enough to force it to re-heal but not enough to burn, why couldn’t one accomplish this at home with, say, a hot washcloth and 20 minutes? :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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From the looks of it (given my cursory review of the literature) it seems much closer to the common laser skin treatment approaches (fractional laser) with micro-injuries to stimulate collagen growth… so hot wash clothes won’t do it…

Study design/materials and methods: Six female participants were treated with Tixel© on healthy skin of the dorsal side of the right forearm in a single session with a 600 µm protrusion and 12 milliseconds pulse. The treated area was examined with confocal laser scanning microscopy on day 1, 2, 7, and 14 after treatment. Clinical symptoms were evaluated at the same time-points.

Results: All patients developed erythema and mild edema on the treated areas, which completely disappeared within 14 days. No post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation or scarring was observed. Thermomechanical skin ablation resulted in the formation of homogeneous micro-ablation zones. Two weeks after ablation, the honeycomb patterns of the epidermis in all examined layers was thoroughly restored. Thus, wound-healing was completed.

Conclusions: Wound healing after thermomechanical skin ablation is much faster compared with other fractionated ablation methods. Treatment intervals of 2-4 weeks could be recommended. Lasers Surg. Med. © 2020 The Authors. Lasers in Surgery and Medicine published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

and

Comprehensive Review of Thermomechanical Fractional Injury Device: Applications in Medical and Cosmetic Dermatology

Methods: A systematic review of PubMed using the search terms of “Tixel”, “thermomechanical fractional”, [“thermomechanical ablation” and “skin”], and [“thermomechanical ablation” and “dermatology”].

Results: Thirty-six articles matched our inquiry. Fifteen articles did not meet inclusion criteria. Of the remaining 21 articles, eight were related to device-assisted drug delivery, seven related to photoaging, and seven related to scientific/ preclinical exploration. Preclinical studies have shown ablative and non-ablative microchannel formation similar to that of CO₂ laser but without charring, with clinical studies demonstrating efficacy for a wide range of applications including rhytides, hypertrophic scarring, infantile hemangiomas, and acne/rosacea. The treatment is well tolerated with minimal discomfort and downtime, showing promise for pain-averse and pediatric populations. Few adverse events have been reported, with a high degree of safety demonstrated in all Fitzpatrick types.

Limitations: Heterogeneous result reporting among studies. Limited number of randomized controlled trials.

Conclusion: Tixel® is an emerging TMFI device with a wide range of current and potential applications, including device-assisted drug delivery and treatment of rhytides, photoaging, and scars among other conditions. The device has both ablative and non-ablative settings and has been safely used in all Fitzpatrick skin types. Larger and randomized controlled trials are needed to compare this device to current standard of care treatments.

And now for something completely different (and unanticipated)… found this as I was researching Tixel on Pubmed:

Treatment of port wine stain with Tixel-induced rapamycin delivery following pulsed dye laser application

Although pulsed dye laser (PDL) is considered the gold standard treatment for port wine stains (PWS), post PDL revascularization is one of the main causes of incomplete regression and recurrence. Recently, topical sirolimus have been shown to improve treatment outcome probably through minimizing post-laser revascularization. We sought to evaluate the added value of the Tixel drug delivery system (DDS) to the PDL and topical rapamycin treatment for PWS. This case series includes three teenager patients with previously treated PWS with PDL. Upon enrollment, every stain was divided into A and B halves for treatment assignments to the following regimens: (A) PDL + DDS + rapamycin; (B) PDL + rapamycin. Subjects were instructed to apply rapamycin topically over the PWS twice daily for the entire treatment period. Assessment of the treatment and adverse reactions as well as photographs was performed at baseline and before every PDL treatment. There were clinically significant differences in blanching responses favoring PWS receiving PDL + DDS + rapamycin as compared to PDL + rapamycin alone. Transient hyperpigmentation was noted in one patient. Two patients developed mild transient irritation and dermatitis following the treatment on both halves. The use of drug delivery system combined with topical rapamycin has no remarkable adverse effects, improves the results of PDL treatment for port wine stains, and can reduce the total number of required PDL sessions.

and

So, perhaps we can improve skin response (anti-aging effects) combining rapamycin with Tixel.

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Dermoelectroporation would be superior to Tixel for the transdermal delivery part. Just sayin. :wink:

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