A prospective study on the efficacy and safety of fractional carbon dioxide laser in the treatment of post-acne scars

Introduction Acne scars can play havoc with the social functioning of the patient leading to severe depression with reduced quality of life. Fractional CO2 laser provides a fine balance between the undesirable side effects of ablative lasers and the limited efficacy of nonablative lasers. Objective The present study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy and safety of fractional CO2 laser in the treatment of acne scars. Patients and methods Fractional CO2 laser treatment performed on 30 patients with atrophic acne scar by different protocols depending on the type and its depth. Results were assessed based on serial photographs, clinical improvement, and physician’s global assessment scale. Results Of the 30 participants, 27 completed all three sessions. Out of the 27 patients in the final follow-up, three (10%) had excellent improvement of which two had mild acne scar and one had moderate scar before treatment; 16 (59.2%) had good response of which 13 had moderate acne scar and three had mild scar and eight (29.7%) had fair response of which six had moderate scars and two had mild scars. Conclusion Fractional CO2 laser as monotherapy in the treatment of mild-to-moderate post-acne scars seems to be effective with good patient satisfaction and reduced side effect profile. In case of severe acne scars, fractional CO2 laser can be used as a combined procedure along with other therapeutic modalities like subcision, platelet-rich plasma, and TCA CROSS (chemical reconstruction of skin scars using trichloroacetic acid) techniques.