Lasers effective for clearing excessive scars

Excessive scarring, particularly hypertrophic scars, can be treated effectively with currently available laser treatments, results of a recent study suggest.

Researchers from Shanghai Ninth People’s Hospital, Shanghai, China, analyzed 28 previous studies of laser treatments for hypertrophic scarring and keloids. About 70 percent of 900 patients receiving laser therapy demonstrated successful treatment, according to a news release.

Patients treated with either the 585/595 nm pulsed dye laser and the 532 nm laser had the best response to treatment, the study showed. Of the studies analyzed, however, two-thirds focused on the 585/595 nm pulsed dye laser, while only three looked at the 532 nm laser.

Researchers noted that the ideal interval for repeated treatments was five to six weeks. Pulsed dye lasers seemed most effective in those patients with fairer skin types, according to the report.

“As dark-skinned populations are more prone to complications caused by laser therapies, pulsed dye laser on dark-skinned patients should be used cautiously,” study authors wrote.

The researchers also noted that the previous studies did not look at recurrence after laser treatment, which may have been the result of somewhat short follow-up durations for most of the studies they analyzed.

The findings were published in the December issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.