Comparative efficacy and safety of verapamil and triamcinolone in keloid and hypertrophic scar treatment: a meta-analysis.

Keloids and hypertrophic scars are harmful to physical and psychological health. The study aims to compare the efficacy and safety of verapamil and triamcinolone in the treatment of keloids and hypertrophic scars. Relevant publications were searched from PubMed, Embase, Cochrane library, CNKI, Weipu, and Wanfang databases. Results were expressed as weighted mean differences (WMDs) or the relative ratios (RRs) with 95% confidence interval (CI). Pooled estimates were calculated using random-effects or fixed-effects models according to the heterogeneity among studies. The pooled results indicated that the triamcinolone treatment showed significantly better effectiveness in height (at 12, 15, 18, 21, and 24 weeks), pliability (at 3, 6, 9, 21, and 24 weeks) and vascularity (at 3, 6, 9, and 12 week) than that of verapamil (P < .05). Moreover, the side effects such as skin atrophy (RR = 0.13, 95% CI: 0.04 to 0.42, P = .001), telangiectasia (RR = 0.08, 95% CI: 0.02 to 0.28, P < .001), and hyperpigmentation (RR = 0.12, 95% CI: 0.03 to 0.44, P = .001) of verapamil were significantly less than those in triamcinolone. This meta-analysis showed that triamcinolone had a better therapeutic efficacy than verapamil, while verapamil was more safety.