TUESDAY, July 27 (HealthDay News) -- Carbon dioxide (CO2) ablative fractional resurfacing is safe and effective for atrophic acne scars on the skin of Asian individuals, according to research published in the August issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.
Woraphong Manuskiatti, M.D., of Mahidol University in Bangkok, Thailand, and colleagues conducted a study of 13 Asian men and women with atrophic acne scars to assess the safety and efficacy of CO2 ablative fractional resurfacing for scar removal. Each participant had three treatments, an average of seven weeks apart. At one, three, and six months after the final treatment, each participant was evaluated by an ultraviolet video camera equipped with skin evaluating software, which was considered an objective evaluation, as well as by two blinded dermatologists.
The researchers found that, six months after treatment, 85 percent of the participants were rated as having at least 25 to 50 percent improvement of their scars; this improvement increased progressively from the one-month to the six-month follow-up. Surface smoothness and scar volume were significantly improved at one month compared with baseline measurements. In self-ratings, 62 percent of participants rated their scars as being at least 50 percent improved. Post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation, which was considered to be mild, occurred in 92 percent of the subjects but was completely resolved in an average of five weeks.
"Considering the recovery time, the risks of adverse effects, and the treatment outcome, CO2 AFR may be an alternative resurfacing technique for dark-skinned individuals. In addition to the CO2 AFR device, ablative fractional erbium-doped:yttrium-scandium-gallium-garnet (2,790 nm) and erbium:yttrium-aluminum-garnet (2,940 nm) lasers have also proven to be effective for photodamaged skin," the authors write.
The study was supported by a research grant from Ellipse A/S, a manufacturer of intense pulsed light and skin laser systems.
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