AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR LASER MEDICINE AND SURGERY ABSTRACTS

SkinCare Physicians of Chestnut Hill, Boston MA
Northwestern University, Chicago, 1L

Background and Objectives: Non-ablative laser treatments have largely supplanted ablative laser resurfacing for treatment of acne scarring and photoaging. While non-ablative treatments are convenient, there are few investigations assessing their long-term efficacy for improvement of textural abnormalities due to prior acne or for rhytides secondary to photoaging.

Study Design/Materials and Methods: Structured interviews and patient/physician assessments with 40 patients from a single practice who previously each received a series of 6 treatments with 1,320 nm Nd:YAG laser for treatment of acne scarring or photoaging. Patients are interviewed 12 months after cessation of treatment.

Results: Overall efficacy of treatment was rated at 40-50% 1 year after treatment cessation. Degree of improvement and patient satisfaction was higher for treatment of photoaging than for acne scarring, but the difference was not statistically significant. Seventy percent of patients reported that their pretreatment expectations for treatment efficacy were met.

Conclusions: Non-ablative treatment with the 1,320 nm Nd:YAG laser appears to induce significant improvement in acne scarring and photoaging for up to 1 year after treatment cessation. Most patients are satisfied with the long-term improvement.