One of the causes of acne is the bacteria, Propionibacterium acnes, which is becoming resistant to the usual antibiotics. Applying hot compresses to pimples can be an effective treatment in some cases. The makers of the Zeno Acne Clearing Device combined these two facts to see if applying heat to an acne lesion would make it resolve faster. Find out more about Zeno.
How Zeno Works
Bacteria in Petri dishes were exposed to various temperatures for various amounts of time to determine the optimal combination to kill bacteria. These settings were then applied to a prototype device to ensure that they would be tolerable to a person's skin. These optimal settings were tested in a double-blind placebo controlled clinical trial (considered to be the most accurate for determining whether a treatment actually works).
Results of the Zeno Trial
Fifty-one patients were studied in the trial - 30 women and 21 men. Patients were required to have 2 similar pimples at the time of the trial. One pimple was treated with the Zeno device and the other pimple was treated with an identical device that did not deliver any heat. The median time it took for the pimple to resolve was 96.7 hours with the Zeno device and 151.8 hours with the placebo device. The median time it took to notice improvement in the pimple was 12.8 hours with the Zeno device and 35.6 hours with the placebo device.
Zeno and Multiple Treatments
Pimples can be treated up to 3 times a day with the Zeno device. The number of pimples that resolved or improved after 1-3 treatments is summarized below:
- One treatment - 29.4% with Zeno and 11.8% with placebo
- Two treatments - 84.3% with Zeno and 31.4% with placebo
- Three treatments - 100% with Zeno and 76.5% with placebo
Zeno Safety
In the study there were no adverse events measured through Day 5 and there were no device malfunctions reported.
