Summary
Background: Despite the wide therapeutic options available for the treatment of me‐
lasma, including many active topical medications, technologies with lights and peel‐
ings, clinical control of this disorder is extremely challenging.
Objectives: To evaluate the effect of microneedling with topical vitamin C in the
treatment of melasma.
Methods: Thirty female patients with melasma received six sessions of micronee‐
dling with addition of topical vitamin C every two weeks. At each session, photos
were taken and Melasma Area and Severity Index (MASI) score was calculated to
assess the clinical improvement.
Results: Mean age of the eligible patients was 33.2 ± 5.77 years. About 50% of cases
were of Fitzpatrick skin type III. All patients showed improvement at the end of the
sessions. Mean MASI score in the first session was 8.61 ± 4.45 and there was a grad‐
ual decline in its value till it reached a mean of 5.75 ± 4.16 in the last session
(P < 0.0001).
ConIclusion: Microneedling with topical vitamin C is an effective and safe treatment
option for epidermal melasma especially in Fitzpatrick skin phototypes I‐II.