Nanogen Scalproller Technology

Increasing Topical Treatment Penetration

Scalp skin is comprised of several layers. The outside layer is called the stratum corneum, and is made from dead skin cells with a high concentration of oils an keratin protein. This layer protects the outside of the body, and is very effective at preventing microbes and chemicals from passing through, entering the body.

Applying topical treatments is only useful if the actives can penetrate through this layer. Actives that are small molecules can penetrate around the hair shaft and sebaceous glands, and some of the active will go through the stratum corneum. However a significant amount of actives will be blocked, especially larger molecules. This often means that only a fraction of the total active in the product reaches the target area and has an effect.

Using the Scalproller creates thousands of quickly healing channels through the stratum corneum, bypassing the major barrier to treatment absorption. The stratum corneum on the scalp is not very thick, and can be penetrated by a 0.3 or a 0.5mm microneedle. These channels allow more than 5 times more actives to penetrate the scalp. They also allow larger molecules like growth factors to penetrate easily, where before absorption would have been low.