title: ECCA grading scale: an original validated acne scar grading scale for clinical practice in dermatology.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The ECCA grading scale (échelle d'évaluation clinique des cicatrices d'acné) is a tool designed to help dermatologists to assess the severity of acne scars and to standardize the discussions about the treatments of scars.
  
  
  METHODS
  We developed an acne scar clinical grading scale called ECCA, which consists of 6 items designed to assess easily and quickly the severity of acne scars by a global score. The interobserver reliability of the ECCA grading was statistically validated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The statistical analysis showed the interinvestigator reliability of the ECCA grading scale among 7 dermatologists who used it on the same group of 10 acne patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  ECCA is a new tool which will now be available for dermatologists to use in their everyday practice and for clinical trials evaluating the efficacy of treatments on acne scars.
authors.affiliation: Clinique Dermatologique, CHU, Nantes, France. bdreno@wanadoo.fr
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Dreno
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Khammari
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Orain
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Noray
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mérial-Kieny
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Méry
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nocera
mesh_terms: D000152:Acne Vulgaris / Q000145:classification / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002921:Cicatrix / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology; D003880:Dermatology / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015588:Observer Variation; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012720:Severity of Illness Index