The Effectiveness of Early Treatment With Intense Pulsed Light Combined With Fractional Erbium Laser in Preventing Post-traumatic Hypertrophic Scar Formation.

BACKGROUND

Once scars form and begin to proliferate, treatment becomes challenging. Traditional methods of scar treatment often provide suboptimal results. Therefore, early intervention has become widely accepted, with a focus on prevention during the wound-healing phase rather than later treatment. Here, the authors evaluate the effectiveness of early treatment with intense pulsed light (IPL) combined with fractional erbium laser in preventing the formation of post-traumatic hypertrophic scars.

METHODS

A total of 120 patients who underwent emergency cosmetic suture surgery for facial trauma between January 2019 and December 2021 were selected for the study. The control group received conventional antiscar therapy (pressure therapy or antiscar medication), while the observation group received IPL combined with fractional erbium laser in addition to the conventional treatment. The specific treatment doses were adjusted based on the patient's age, scar color, texture, and thickness. A treatment course consisted of 3 to 5 sessions, with 4-week intervals between treatments. Follow-up was conducted within 1 year after treatment to assess the improvement in scar appearance before and after therapy.

RESULTS

After IPL combined with fractional erbium laser treatment, patients in the observation group showed significantly lower scores in color, thickness, vascular distribution, softness, and total scores on the Vancouver Scar Scale (VSS) compared with the control group. During the follow-up, 3 complications were observed: 2 cases of skin blisters and 1 case of pigmentation. No immediate skin lesions, depigmentation, infections, ulcers, or other adverse reactions were reported.

CONCLUSIONS

For patients with early-stage superficial scars following trauma surgery, early treatment with IPL combined with fractional erbium laser not only leads to significant improvements in appearance and effectively prevents hypertrophic scar formation but also promotes rapid recovery with few complications. This approach has clinical value.