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Fractional carbon dioxide laser combined with subcision for the treatment of three subtypes of atrophic acne scars: a retrospective analysis

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Abstract

Fractional carbon dioxide (CO2) laser combined with subcision has been widely used for the clinical treatment, but the efficacy of the combined therapy on three types of atrophic acne scars remains unreported. This retrospective study analyzed the clinical data of 413 patients with atrophic acne scars, treated with fractional CO2 laser combined with subcision in the combined group and with fractional CO2 laser in the control group. The treatment efficacy was evaluated by the Investigator’s Global Assessment (IGA) and the Échelle d′évaluation clinique des cicatrices d′acné (ECCA). We reported adverse reactions such as erythema, lump, skin sensitivity, acne recurrence, and hyperpigmentation that occurred in both treatment groups. The treatment efficiency of the combined group was significantly higher than that of the control group (P < 0.001). Among the three subtypes of atrophic acne scars, the ECCA scores in the combined group of boxcar-type and rolling-type scars after treatment were lower than those in the control group (P = 0.041, P < 0.001, respectively), and no statistical difference in scores between the two groups for icepick-type scars was seen (P = 0.062). There was no statistical difference in adverse reactions between the two groups (P = 0.361). Fractional CO2 laser combined with subcision is more effective than fractional CO2 laser in the treatment of boxcar-type and rolling-type scars, but there is no significant difference in the treatment of icepick-type scars.

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To protect the privacy of patients, raw data is available on request and can available from the corresponding author.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank all the patients included in this study. This study was guided by Jiao Jing, Director of the Department of Dermatology at Jinan Central Hospital. And it was published with her approval.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Dermatology, Jinan Central Hospital, Shandong University, Jinan, China

    Xiangying Li & Yan Wang

  2. Department of Dermatology, Central Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University, Jinan, China

    Huiping Fan

  3. Department of Dermatology, Jinan Central Hospital, 105 Jiefang Street, Jinan, 250013, China

    Chao Sun, Xi Yang & Jing Jiao

  4. Research Center of Basic Medicine, Jinan Central Hospital, Shandong University, Jinan, China

    Xiaoli Ma

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  1. Xiangying Li
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  5. Xi Yang
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Contributions

Xiangying Li: study design, data collection, data statistical analysis and article writing. Huiping Fan, Yan Wang: assessment of efficacy, graphical processing. Chao Sun, Xi Yang, Xiaoli Ma: study design, article writing. Jing Jiao (corresponding author): treatment operator, study guidance.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jing Jiao.

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Ethics approval

This retrospective chart review study involving human participants was in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. The Human Investigation Committee (IRB) of Jinan Central Hospital approved this study.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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The authors affirm that human research participants provided informed consent for publication of the images in Figs. 1 and 2.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Li, X., Fan, H., Wang, Y. et al. Fractional carbon dioxide laser combined with subcision for the treatment of three subtypes of atrophic acne scars: a retrospective analysis. Lasers Med Sci 38, 195 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10103-023-03851-w

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