Efficacy of fractional radiofrequency in management of acne scars: A Retrospective study

 

Ajay Ovhal

 

Abstract              Background: There are various treatment modalitieslike chemical peeling, subcision, laser resurfacing with CO2 laser, ErYAG laser are available for treatment of acne scars. Ablative lasers are most effective but associated with drawback of hyperpigmentation in type IV and V i.e. Indian skin types. The fractional radiofrequency (FRF) system have reported to cause dermal regeneration with minimal epidermal changes.This study was designed to assess efficacy of FRF in treatment of acne scars. Aims: This study is to asess efficacy of FRF for treatment of acne scars. Methods and Material: Thirty-one patients with acne scars received three treatments with FRF at the interval of 4 weeks. Acne scar assessment was done with Goodman and Baron’s grading (GBG) and Echelle d’Evaluation Clinque des cicatrices (ECCA) system on pre and post treatment photographs taken at first visit and one month after the last treatment. Statistical analysis used: Wilcoxan signed rank test. Results: The results were assessed quantitatively by GBG showed improvement of 23 (63.8%) patients from grade 3 to grade 1 and 6 (75%) patients from grade 4 to grade 2. Thus 20 patients (64%) patients showed improvement by 2 grades. Median GB score improved from 18 to 8 and median EACC score improved from 45 to 20 after the treatment which are statistically significant on applying Wilcoxan signed rank test.No significant adverse effects like post inflammatory hyperpigmentation were seen. Conclusions: FRF is effective for treatment of moderate to severe acne scars.

Key words: fractional radiofrequency, acne scars, lasers, non-ablative lasers.