If one ASU researcher has her way, the terror of waking up on school picture day to find a massive zit where your chin used to be will be a thing of the past.
Sharon Goldsworthy, a clinical research coordinator at ASU’s Center for Healthcare Innovation & Clinical Trials, has teamed with Phoenix-based business Xthetix Inc., to conduct clinical testing on a device that will safely remove and prevent acne.
The device, which researchers refer to as Spot, is essentially an ultrasound machine that heats acne causing sebaceous glands, found on the face and scalp.
Sebaceous glands secrete a substance called sebum that is a major cause of facial acne.
Rubbing Spot over a patch of acne heats the glands and reduces the level of sebum, Goldsworthy said.
She hopes to get close to 30 subjects to participate in five-day trials over the next couple weeks to determine the effectiveness of Spot.
“Each trial would begin on a Monday or a Friday, and the subject would be given treatment and closely monitored every day,” Goldsworthy said. “We take pictures of the subjects face every day to see if the treatment is actually reducing any acne and how much.”
To be eligible, subjects must have five to 15 lesions on both sides of their face and be willing to receive the treatment for five days, Goldsworthy said.
“We need the subjects to have acne on both sides of the face so we can use one side as a control,” Goldsworthy said. “We treat one side with the ultrasound while the other side has no changes. If they wash their face we tell them to continue washing their face.”
Goldsworthy said the goal is to gather enough data to get approval from the Food and Drug Administration so Spot can be used the by the general public.
Brian O’Connor, the chief executive of Xthetix Inc., the company that plans to market the product, said past trials have yielded successful results.
“Our first trial was done at a hospital in Massachusetts, and we got great results,” O’Connor said. “We needed more data and are based in Phoenix, so we thought ASU would be a good place to try it because it’s right in our own backyard.”
Xthetix Inc. is providing funds for the research, including covering subjects’ expenses for things like gas, and offers some payment for participation.
O’Connor thinks Spot will be successful in the consumer market and suspects that by 2009 the device will be available to the general public.
“What’s unique about our product is that there really aren’t any good, effective products on the market,” O’Connor said. “There are products that work, but they take forever, and a lot of them aren’t too safe.”
O’Connor said an effective product on the market right now is an acne pill called Acutane. The problem with Acutane, he said, is that it takes two to three months to work and dermatologists are reluctant to prescribe the drug because of possible side effects like birth defects and damage to reproductive organs.
“What we want to do is find out how effective the treatment is and make sure that it is completely safe for the consumer,” he said.
Reach the reporter at jaking5@asu.edu.
