Bellus Medical CEO Joe Proctor just won Non-Physician Technology Innovator of the Year at the 2018 TAG You’re It! Awards.

Keep an eye out for a profile of Joe in the September print issue of The Aesthetic Guide.

For now, here’s a preview of the reasons behind the win:

Microneedling – the mechanical process of using tiny needles to create thousands of “micro” channels in the skin to stimulate the natural healing and remodeling process – needed a thorough cleanup. Though it’s been safely used by medical professionals for a wide variety of skin conditions since the 1990s, the treatment suffered from little oversight and frequent abuse.

That’s all changing. In March 2018, after three years of proactive work designed to clean up the microneedling space, Bellus earned the first and only FDA clearance of a microneedling device with its flagship product, SkinPen®. The clearance established a new microneedling classification and category, making SkinPen the only legally marketed microneedling device with the correct classification.

SkinPen’s intended use is to improve the appearance of facial acne scars of people 22 years and older. Patients say the device simply works: Some 90% of subjects in a clinical trial said they would recommend the treatment to friends and family.

SkinPen gets those results through new technology. Its variable depth settings and cordless design provide significant versatility. As a result, physicians can adjust the treatment as appropriate for different areas of the face, as skin thickness can differ from area to area, and to fit the individual needs on each patient’s skin.

SkinPen also reduces the risk of cross contamination. An enhanced exhaust port prevents suction and cuts of potential contaminants into the cartridge. Additionally, a single-use disposable ‘BioSheath’ is employed to prevent contamination of the SkinPen device during the treatment.

More fundamentally, SkinPen qualifies as “biocompatible” because none of its components pose an unacceptable risk of a potential adverse biological response. Similarly, the device is compliant with the Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS), a European Union rule that restricts the use of hazardous materials in electrical and electronic products.

Congratulations to Joe for setting the standard for efficacy and safety in aesthetic medicine!