Treatment of dissecting cellulitis of the scalp with erbium: YAG laser: a case series

Abstract

Dissecting cellulitis of the scalp (DCS) is a rare recurrent inflammatory disease of unknown etiology. Ideal treatment of DCS remains unclear. We treated DCS with 2940-nm erbium Yttrium-aluminum-garnet (YAG) laser in 12 patients and assessed the efficacy by Physicians Global Assessment (PGA), number of inflammatory nodules, abscesses, and area of alopecia. After a mean treating session of 2.2 months, 10 patients reached PGA 0 (initial PGA 1) or 1 (initial PGA ≥2). At the end of treatment, there was 84%, 100%, and 74% regression in nodules, abscesses, and alopecia area, respectively. No severe adverse effect was observed. 2940-nm erbium: YAG laser may be an effective and safe way to treat DCS resistant to other therapies.

Keywords:

• Dissecting cellulitis of the scalp
• perifolliculitis capitis abscedens et suffodiens
• erbium: YAG laser

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Consent statement

Informed consents were provided by patients for publication of the cases.

Authors contribution statement

Mengjun Xu collected the data and wrote the manuscript. Suiqing Cai revised the manuscript. Jianliang Yan designed the treatment and performed the laser therapy.

Data availability statement

Data available on request from the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (82003332).