Evaluation of Fractional CO2 Laser Treatment Efficacy and Comparison to Vaginal Conjugated Estrogen Cream in Postmenopausal Women with Vulvovaginal Atrophy: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Background: Vulvovaginal atrophy is common and bothersome among postmenopausal women. Hence in this study, the fractional CO2 laser treatment efficacy was compared with vaginal conjugated estrogen cream in postmenopausal women with vulvovaginal atrophy was assessed. Materials and Methods: In this randomized clinical trial, 130 consecutive postmenopausal women with vulvovaginal atrophy attending to urogynecologic clinic in Imam-Khomeini hospital in Ahvaz in 2015 were enrolled and were randomly assigned to receive either fractional CO2 laser treatment or vaginal conjugated estrogen cream. The improvement of vulvovaginal atrophy symptoms, sexual satisfaction and function were compared across the groups after 12 weeks. Results: There improvement of vulvovaginal atrophy symptoms, sexual satisfaction, and function were 86.2%, 87.7%, and 87.7%, respectively in laser group and 53.8%, 52.3%, and 52.3%, respectively in primarin group showing statistically significant differences (P=0.0001). There were no side effects. Conclusion: Totally, according to obtained results, it may be concluded that efficacy of fractional CO2 laser was higher than vaginal conjugated estrogen cream in postmenopausal women with vulvovaginal atrophy.