Treatment of atrophic facial acne scars with fractional Er:Yag laser.

BACKGROUND

Acne scars are often a permanent disfiguring sequel of acne vulgaris. Although many treatment modalities are available, they are often non satisfactory for all patients.

OBJECTIVE

To determine the effectiveness and safety of fractional 1540 nm erbium_glass laser treatment of facial acne scars in Iraqi patients.

PATIENTS AND

METHODS

Twenty one patients were enrolled in this prospective clinical study. Three sessions of the 1540 nm erbium glass laser were applied at 2-week intervals. The patients were assessed at 1, 3, and 6 months after the last session. The effect of treatment was assessed by objective (Sharquie scoring system for grading acne scarring and visual analog scale) and subjective (patient satisfaction) methods.

RESULTS

Two patients were defaulted. Eleven patients (57.9%) showed improvement from moderate to mild grade, and no grade changes were detected in eight patients (42.1%). The mean score of the visual analog scale prior to treatment was 8.61 ± 0.86 and decreased to 6.15 ± 1.28 (P = 0.037). Ten patients were satisfied to varying degrees. No significant side effects were noted.

CONCLUSION

Non-ablative fractional 1540 nm erbium glass laser is an effective and safe method to treat acne scars and represent good alternative for patients who cannot use the ablative methods because of its longer downtime.