Sports Science

Communication

Biosci. Biotech. Res. Comm. 10(2): 133-137 (2017)

The effect of micro needling therapy on the quality of

life in women suffering from skin-deep varicose legs

Vahideh Riyahi

and Bijan Goodarzi

Master in Sports Pathology and Corrective Exercise, Young Researchers and Elite Club, Borujerd Branch,

Islamic Azad University, Borujerd, Iran

Assisstant Professor, Department of Physical Education and Sports Sciences, Borujerd Branch, Islamic Azad

University, Borujerd, Iran

ABSTRACT

The aim of the present research was to examine the effect of micro needling therapy on quality of life in women suf-

fering from skin- deep varicose leg. For this purpose 20 patients with varicose veins of the lower limb with the height

of 6/1 ± 163/1 cm, weight 4/6 ± 70/1 kg and fat content 6/5 ± 32/4 were selected purposefully, as the subjects. After

randomization of subjects into two groups of 10 subjects for 20 weeks, every 4 weeks for a total of 5 sessions a meet-

ing with patients was conducted using Micro needling, the control group did not have any therapeutic intervention.

To analyze the data, independent t-test at a signi cance level of 05/0> P were used. The  ndings show that between

the measured values of quality of life index before and after the test respectively, there is signi cant increase and a

signi cant reduction of 05/0> P. The results showed that the use of micro-needling can be considered as a safe and

effective treatment in enhancing the quality of life in patients with varicose veins of lower limbs.

KEY WORDS: VARICOSE VEINS, MICRO NEEDLING, QUALITY OF LIFE

133

ARTICLE INFORMATION:

*Corresponding Author: bijan35454@yahoo.com

Received 11

March, 2017

Accepted after revision 11

June, 2017

BBRC Print ISSN: 0974-6455

Online ISSN: 2321-4007 CODEN: USA BBRCBA

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Online Contents Available at: http//www.bbrc.in/

INTRODUCTION

The term Varicose veins which stems from its Latin ori-

gin Varix meaning “twisted” refers to dilated veins or

swelling of the veins. Varicose veins, is the most com-

mon human vascular disease that affects about 20-10%

of the population. Varicose veins are veins long, dilated

and twisted and which often seen on the interior sur-

faces of the lower limbs. The highest prevalence of

varicose veins is estimated in women aged 49-40 years.

Varicose veins are large, fully swollen and sometimes

palpable, dilated and elongated, and sometimes higher

than 4 mm in diameter. Swollen and web-like varicose

veins are very common (Harrie and Kendall 2014).

134 THE EFFECT OF MICRO NEEDLING THERAPY ON THE QUALITY OF LIFE IN WOMEN BIOSCIENCE BIOTECHNOLOGY RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS

Vahideh Riyahi and Bijan Goodarzi

More than 40 percent of women over 50 have the dis-

ease. Varicose veins are skin-deep dilated and zigzagged

veins due to structural defects and performance of the

saphenous veins or inherent weakness of the vein wall or

rarely due to the Artery - IV  stulas. More than 20 mil-

lion adult Americans suffer from varicose vein disease

and the disease causes a sickly condition which results

in the reduction of a patient’s performance (Chung,

McCray et al. 2000). These veins are related to leg swell-

ing, pain, dermatitis, phlebitis and ulcers, Patients with

venous insuf ciency often complain of pain in their legs

that worsen with prolonged standing and relieved by

elevating the feet. On examination of the shank diam-

eter, edema, varicose veins and super cial veins with

erythematic, dermatitis, and hyper pigmentation can

be seen in the lower leg and the skin near the external

ankle might become ulcerous. Mostly, varicose veins are

asymptomatic and only regarding beauty aspects require

medical attention themselves. If symptomatic, the pain,

diffuse and non-speci c fullness and heaviness in the

legs, especially after standing a long time are probable.

Sometimes swelling in the ankles and feet can be seen

in the prominent vessels (Chung, McCray et al. 2000).

So far, various methods for reducing the symptoms of

varicose veins including pain in the legs after prolonged

standing or sitting, night pain and feeling of heaviness

in the legs are provided. Avoiding long time standing

or sitting position, avoiding long-time exposure of legs

in the sun and heat or prolonged contact with garter or

belt, avoidance of continuous wearing of strip (band)

or stockings, avoiding simple sugars and lipids and

the use of medications such as Flavonoid derivatives,

sodium morrhuate are among the methods of reducing

the symptoms of varicose veins (Stiegmann, Sun et al.

1988). Micro needling is a method recently used for skin

diseases. Micro needling is a device for general skin nee-

dling which has a comparable impact with laser treat-

ments and chemical peelings. This device can be used

exclusively or as a complement to other treatment meth-

ods. The disposable needles’ points are short and tiny,

it includes 12 micro needles that should be discarded

after each treatment. For treatment, needle penetration

depth must be between 25% to 2/5 mm set with a speed

of 25 beats per second and beat for 90 beats per seconds

which  nally between 300 and 1,000 tiny holes in sec-

onds are created in the surface. Micro needling is used

to stimulate the skin to make natural collagen. Further-

more, treatment with this device helps penetration and

absorption of drugs to the skin, skin rejuvenation and

wrinkles, acne scars healing, improvement of body craze

and the overall appearance of the skin and shrinkage of

the size of the pores. Backlog and increasing the elastic-

ity of the skin, new collagen production, surface and

deep wrinkles reduction, improving crazes, and improv-

ing decrements of pigmented lesions’ penetration, mate-

rials, creams and vitamins to the skin after treatment

with micro needling can be named as the advantages of

micro needling (Van Stiegmann and Goff 1988).

The aim of this study is to examine the effect of micro

needling on the quality of life in the women suffering

from skin-deep varicose foot.

Hypotheses: A 20-week period of micro needling on

the surface varicose leg in women has no signi cant

effect on quality of life. A 20-week period micro nee-

dling on the surface varicose leg in women has no sig-

ni cant effect on quality of life.

RESEARCH METHODS

The study population included all women with varicose

veins in the age range between 40 to 60 years who have

gone to health centers for treatment. The sample con-

sisted of a total of 20 diagnosed women, of those, 10

patients were randomly divided into a control group and

10 other were selected as the experimental group.

After introducing the participants about the purpose

of the study, in the  rst step, measuring pain intensity

was performed using questionnaires. After the initial

evaluation of samples, micro needling was conducted

for 20 weeks and every four weeks for a total of 5 ses-

sion meetings under the supervision of an expert. It

should be noted that the research subjects before the

study must not have experience in any use of micro nee-

dling. Moreover, the use of any antidepressant medica-

tions during the study will be banned and any treatment

with these drugs should be avoided for at least 7 days

before the study begins. The study regarding the lack of

any physical and psychological risks to the subjects will

be approved by sports medicine and orthopedic special-

ists.

Subjects who were 20 patients were divided randomly

into two equal groups. Group A: control group, includ-

ing subjects who during the 20-week study did not

have any therapeutic intervention. The second group,

the experimental group who used micro needling for 20

weeks and a session for each 4 weeks and a total of 5

sessions. In the present study to determine effects on

quality of life of micro needling in two stages: one day

before the beginning and one day after the end of the

second phase of the 20-week period micro needling was

measured using indicators mentioned.

Using deep micro needling (adjustable needle tip 2

mm) by a dermatologist every 4 weeks for 20 weeks and

a total of 5 sessions was performed on all the surface

varicose veins of the lower limb (Dhurat, et al. 2013) . To

evaluate the quality of life, questionnaire FAMAS, Ver-

sion 2 is used which includes 59 questions under the title

BIOSCIENCE BIOTECHNOLOGY RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS THE EFFECT OF MICRO NEEDLING THERAPY ON THE QUALITY OF LIFE IN WOMEN 135

Vahideh Riyahi and Bijan Goodarzi

of 7 subscales as follows. Motility 7 cases, Symptoms 7

cases, emotional well-being 7 cases, general satisfaction

7 cases, social or family Welfare 7, thinking, and fatigue

9, other concerns 15, and each questionnaire ranges

from number zero to the number 236. The questions

were in line with the subject and assumptions which

after being translated into Persian has been review by

several professors and experts and according to them

the necessary corrections have been made. It should be

noted that in previous studies of content validity of the

questionnaire have been made. Regarding the reliabil-

ity, internal consistency method and Cronbach’s alpha

coef cient is studied in a prototype and questions which

decrease the reliability (Stability Coef cient) have been

modi ed (Cella, Dineen et al. 1996)

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

In order to classify and regulate the data, descriptive

statistics and to analyze the data and raw information

inferential statistics are used. In statistical data analysis

of the differences of quality of life between the groups,

independent t test will be utilized, Paired t-test were

used for the detection of pre-test and post-test scores

and their signi cant differences in each group. For sta-

tistical analysis, SPSS software was used. At the begin-

ning of the study, after grouping there is no signi cant

differences in age, weight and height of the two groups

(0/05> P).

SURVEYING NORMAL DATA DISTRIBUTION

To study the normal distribution of data Kolmogorov-

Smirnov test was used. According to this test, distribu-

tion is normal when the amount is signi cantly higher

than 0/05. The results are provided in table (1-4).

Based on the results of Kolmogorov-Smirnov test,

distribution data for all studied variables were normal.

Therefore, parametric statistical tests were used for data

analysis and hypothesis testing.

A 20-week period micro needling has no signi cant

effect on quality of life in women with skin-deep

varicose of legs

To check this hypothesis  rst the statistical paired t-test

(paired) were used to compare pre-test and post-test of

each group (Table 2-4) and then t-test was used for com-

parison of independent groups (Table 4-4) at the signi -

cant level P ≤.0 / 05.

Table (1-4). Independent t-test for pretest variables

The signi cance

level

Average and

Standard deviation

Variable

0/62 5/2±44/5 Age (years)

0/71 6/1±163/1 Height (Cm)

0/49 4/6±70/1 Weight (kg)

0/81 5/6±4/32 Fat percentage

Table (2-4). Kolmogorov-Smirnov test results for the variables before and after the test

The signi cance

level

Average and

Standard deviation

Group Variables

491/0 2/25±5/145 pre-Test

Control

Quality of Life

178/0 4/22±7/143 Post-Test

491/0 6/30±5/143 Pre-Test

Experimental

318/0 8/28±31/170 Post-Test

Table 5-4. paired t-test results regarding pretest and posttest of the quality of life

The signi cance

level

Degrees of

freedom

Within-group

mean difference

Post-Test Pre-Test Group Variable

090/0 82/0 9 2/2 4/22±7/143 2/25±5/145 Control

Quality of Life

001/0 1/6 9 37/27 8/28±31/170 6/30±5/143 Experimental

Table 6-4. results of independent t-test of quality of life in post-test

Two-tailed

signi cance level

Degrees of

freedom

The mean difference

between groups

Variable

001/0 1/4 19 17/25 Quality of life

136 THE EFFECT OF MICRO NEEDLING THERAPY ON THE QUALITY OF LIFE IN WOMEN BIOSCIENCE BIOTECHNOLOGY RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS

Vahideh Riyahi and Bijan Goodarzi

Results showed that the experimental group in post-

test after the exercise protocol in comparison to the pre-

test show signi cant difference in the quality of life and

because of that the experimental group was signi cantly

increased in the quality of life. But in the control group

no signi cant difference was observed in the quality of

life in the pretest and post-test. Also according to the

results from the table, in comparing the change in the

groups in post-test, signi cant difference was observed

between the changes. Therefore, the null hypothesis of

no effect of 20 weeks of micro-needling on the quality

of life in the women suffering from skin-deep varicose

leg is rejected and it can be stated that this type of inter-

vention is to improve quality of life in these individuals.

The results of micro needling to enhance quality of life

in people with varicose veins might be because micro-

needle contains 12 short and  ne needle with penetra-

tion depth of 2 mm and a speed of 25 beats per second

to 90 beats per second which ultimately creates between

300 to 1,000 tiny holes in seconds in the surface and it

stimulates skin’s natural production of collagen (Pahwa,

Pahwa et al. 2012) and leads to ulcer wrinkles removal,

improvement of the body crazes, betterment of the over-

all appearance of the skin and shrinkage of the size of

the pores (Majid 2009). In addition, accumulation and

increasing elasticity of the skin, new collagen produc-

tion, surface and deep wrinkles reduction, improvement

of body craze and healing of pigmented lesions, happens

through micro needling (Aust, Fernandes et al. 2008).

Tiny pores made on the skin causes the production of

new blood vessels and collagen  bers. Micro needling

by stimulating stem cells and  broblasts in the skin does

restorative work in the best way possible. Given that in

the skin-deep varicose, faulty and defective veins are at

the surface, 20 weeks use of micro needling stimulates

vascular and skin tissues, and complications of varicose

veins is reduced, thereby enhancing quality of life.

The results showed that the use of micro-needling can be

used as a safe and effective treatment in enhancing quality

of life in patients with varicose veins in lower limbs.

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