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Effectiveness and safety of the ablative fractional 2940-nm Er: YAG laser for the treatment of androgenetic alopecia

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Abstract

Laser sources have established their potential effect in inducing hair regrowth. No large cohort study has evaluated the effect of ablative fractional 2940-nm erbium yttrium aluminum garnet (Er: YAG) laser in the treatment of androgenetic alopecia (AGA). To investigate the efficacy and safety of the ablative fractional 2940-nm Er: YAG laser in combination with medication therapy for the treatment of AGA. We performed a retrospective study between first July 2021 to 30th December 2021. All included patients received oral finasteride and topical minoxidil, or combined with six sessions of Er: YAG laser at 2-week intervals. Patients were divided into medication or combined therapy groups. The efficacy of the two therapies was evaluated by the investigator’s Global Assessment (IGA) scores and the patient’s Likert satisfaction scale at week 12 and week 24. Changes in total, terminal and villous hair count, total and terminal hair diameter, and AGA grade were also recorded. Adverse events were evaluated at each follow-up. A total of 192 male patients with AGA were included, including 67 receiving combination treatment, and 125 receiving medication treatment. At week 24, the combination treatment afforded superior outcomes in the IGA score, patient’s global assessment, total and terminal hair counts, and diameters (all P<0.05). No severe adverse events were reported in both groups. The combined therapy of ablative fractional Er: YAG laser and medication was superior in treating male AGA than single medication therapy without serious adverse effects.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are not publicly available due to the privacy of research participants but are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Funding

This research was funded by Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 82103754 and 82373503).

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Author notes

  1. Ru Dai and Xiaoshuang Yang contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Dermatology, Zhejiang University School of Medicine Second Affiliated Hospital, No. 88, Jiefang Road, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 310,009, P.R. China

    Ru Dai, Xiaoshuang Yang, Yiping Su & Xianjie Wu

  2. Department of Dermatology, The First People Hospital of Hangzhou Linan District, Hangzhou Medical College, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 311,300, China

    Yiping Su

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  1. Ru Dai
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Contributions

RD, XY and XW contributions to conception and design of study, analysis and interpretation of data. RD and YS involved in acquisition of data and implementing of the research. RD wrote the manuscript. XW gave final approval of the version to be published. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Xianjie Wu.

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Ethics approval and consent to participate

The study was approved by the Human Ethics Committee of Zhejiang University School of Medicine Second Affiliated Hospital (IRB-2021-1686) and performed in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. Written informed consent was obtained from all subjects. Written informed consent was obtained from the individual for the publication of any potentially identifiable images or data included in this article.

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Dai, R., Yang, X., Su, Y. et al. Effectiveness and safety of the ablative fractional 2940-nm Er: YAG laser for the treatment of androgenetic alopecia. Lasers Med Sci 39, 128 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10103-024-04074-3

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