Researchers affirm benefits of fractional CO2 laser scar treatment

A recent study appears to support findings that fractional CO₂ laser treatment of hypertrophic and burn scars results in improvement of erythema, a common problem following treatment with vascular lasers.

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The study sought to describe the mechanism behind reduced erythema following treatment with the fractional CO₂ laser. The researchers conducted an uncontrolled, prospective study of 10 patients with mature burn scars. They obtained biopsy specimens before and two months after three treatment sessions and performed anti-CD31 immunostaining to highlight vascular patterns in the specimens.

Post-treatment histological analysis showed an 82.6 percent average increase in vascular density, particularly in small-caliber vessels. This increase correlated with a decrease in clinical erythema and vascularity scores, as measured by the Vancouver Scar Scale.

“What we learned from our research is that persistent long-term scar erythema can be multifactorial,” study author David M Ozog, M.D., director of cosmetic dermatology at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, tells Dermatology Times. “It is important to keep an open mind with challenging or resistant clinical cases that simply removing the vessels may not yield the maximal outcome if functionality is affected by hypertrophic scar.”

The study, titled, “Vascular Patterns in Mature Hypertrophic Burn Scars Treated with Fractional CO2 Laser,” was selected as Editor’s Choice for the October issue of Lasers in Surgery and Medicine. 

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