Striae distensae (SD), an unattractive cutaneous disorder characterized by epidermal atrophy, can have an impact on women’s quality of life. For a study, researchers assessed the efficacy of a non-ablative fractional laser (NAFL) of neodymium: yttrium–aluminum–perovskite 1340 nm with the micro-needling (MN) approach in treating striae alba (SA).
NAFL and MN were used for treating striae on the longitudinally split abdomen surface of 20 Fitzpatrick skin type III or IV women (five sessions at monthly intervals). All patients had photographs and skin biopsies taken prior to treatment, as well as after the third and fifth therapy sessions. The Global Aesthetic Improvement Scale was used by patients and two independent evaluators to measure clinical improvement.
The patient-reported evaluation revealed that both modalities improved striae, with no statistically significant difference between the groups. After the third and fifth treatment sessions, collagen and elastic fibers were considerably enhanced (p < 0.01), with no significant difference across the modalities. Furthermore, as compared to pretreatment values, Dermatology Life Quality Index scores improved significantly (p < 0.001) following the third and fifth treatment sessions, with average values of 8.4 (standard error [SE] ± 1.21), 3.17 (SE ± 0.55), and 2.64 (SE ± 0.60), respectively. The mean pain score on the Visual Analog Scale in the MN group against the NAFL group was 5.23 (SE ± 0.31) compared to 2.39 (SE ± 0.22) [p < 0.001], and the mean duration of adverse events was 4.03 days (SE ± 0.45) versus 3 days (SE ± 0.37) [p = 0.02]. The researchers found out that for the patients classified in the categories as phototype III or IV, NAFL and MN are known to be safe to treat SD.
Reference:link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40257-018-0415-0
