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Reports

Comparative study of ablative fractional photothermolysis versus topical retinoid cream in the treatment of idiopathic guttate hypomelanosis

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Pages 405-409 | Received 02 Jul 2017, Accepted 20 Feb 2018, Published online: 16 Mar 2018
 

ABSTRACT

Background: Despite various treatments attempts, no prospective studies have compared the different therapeutic modalities for treatment of idiopathic guttate hypomelanosis (IGH). This study aimed to compare the efficacy of CO2 fractional laser (CO₂FL), Er:YAG fractional laser (EYFL), and 0.025% topical tretinoin for treating IGH. Materials and Methods: A total of 122 lesions were analyzed from 18 patients (mean age, 70.00 ± 20.00 years). Treatment outcome evaluations included the visual analog scale (VAS) to assess lesion severity, investigator’s global assessment (IGA) to assess the extent of improvement, and patient’s satisfaction score (PSS). Results: Among the 122 lesions, 42, 40, and 40 were assigned to the CO₂FL, EYFL, and topical tretinoin treatment groups, respectively. The VAS score was significantly improved after the second treatment. CO₂FL and EYFL therapy had superior treatment efficacy compared to topical tretinoin (< 0.01 in VAS, IGA, and PSS). There was no significant difference between the two types of fractional lasers. Conclusions: Ablative fractional laser (AFL) was an effective treatment with a relatively short treatment time without serious adverse events. We recommended AFL to treat IGH as an active treatment strategy.

Declaration of interest

None declared.

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