Proposal of a Noninvasive Method to Reduce Injection-Related Bruising in Aesthetic Medicine: Transillumination

Hyaluronic acid (HA) injections involve a risk of vascular complications. Transillumination (TL) is a noninvasive technique that appears to allow preliminary detection of superficial vascular structures of the face to avoid intravascular HA injection. The purpose of our study was to test the efficacy of TL in terms of its sensitivity to locate vessels in the areas undergoing treatment and to reduce post-injection vascular complications.

We conducted a prospective study enrolling 72 patients who consulted for HA injections to treat facial wrinkles. We used TL on one side of the face to obtain a vascular mapping of the face. The area undergoing testing was randomized for the TL technique. The primary study endpoint was sensitivity for identifying subcutaneous veins and the differences in complication rates between the side of the face where TL was used to guide the injection and the side of the face where no vascular exploration method was used.

TL sensitivity for locating the superficial temporal vein was 100%, 91% for the supratrochlear, supraorbital and infraorbital veins, and 95% for the dorsal nasal veins (p < 0.01). The complication rate was higher on the side of the face where no vascular exploration method was used (22.2% vs 2.7%; p = 0.010046).

Our preliminary findings validate our hypothesis concerning the advantage of using TL to identify superficial veins before performing injections. This method is simple and affordable, and the learning curve is small.

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