Preclinical research published by Pasinlioğlu et al in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery tested the efficacy of skin microneedling plus cupping therapy vs microneedling alone in a population of Wistar rats. The subjects were randomly assigned to one of five groups:
- Control group
- A group that underwent a single session of microneedling applied to the dorsal trunk
- A group that received the addition of a 15-minute cupping therapy session to the single-session microneedling
- A group that underwent microneedling applied over a total of three sessions at 3-week intervals
- A group that underwent microneedling with cupping therapy applied over a total of three sessions at 3-week intervals.
After undergoing the assigned therapy and allotting for 4 weeks of healing, the investigators reported that subjects who underwent both microneedling and cupping had increased skin thickness; those who underwent microneedling had increased production of type I collagen and an increased ratio of type 1 to type 3 collagen. The researchers concluded, “Although cupping therapy did not display the anticipated positive contribution in terms of collagen amount in combined use, it is a treatment modality that can be used with microneedling because of its contribution to the epidermal and dermal thickness.” However, more clinical research on the combination of these modalities is needed.