Treatment of hypertrophic scars with intralesional botulinum toxin type A injections: a preliminary report.
BACKGROUND
Hypertrophic scar is the abnormal appearance of wound healing that usually causes major physical, psychological, and cosmetic problems. Treatment of the hypertrophic scar still is a dilemma due to the lack of effective and excellent methods and agents. Recent reports show that botulinum toxin type A (BTX-A) improves wound healing. Therefore, the authors hypothesized that BTX-A may be favorable for the improvement of hypertrophic scars.


METHODS
A total of 19 patients were randomly assigned to a prospective clinical study. At 1-month intervals, BTX-A (2.5 U per cubic centimeter of lesion) was injected in these patients for a total of 3 months. All the patients were followed up for at least half a year. Therapeutic satisfaction was recorded, and the lesions were assessed for erythema, itching sensation, and pliability.


RESULTS
The study was completed by 19 patients. At the half-year follow-up visits, all the patients showed acceptable improvement, and the rate of therapeutic satisfaction was very high. The erythema score, itching sensation score, and pliability score after the BTX-A injection all were significantly lower than before the BTX-A injection. The differences all were statistically significant (P < 0.01).


CONCLUSIONS
For the treatment of hypertrophic scars, doctors and patients both found BTX-A acceptable because of its better therapeutic results. Its effect of eliminating or decreasing hypertrophic scars was promising.
Department of Plastic Surgery, Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province, People's Republic of China. xiaozhibodoctor@yahoo.com.cn
Zhibo
Z
Xiao
Fengmin
F
Zhang
Ziwei
Z
Cui
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D019274:Botulinum Toxins, Type A / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D017439:Cicatrix, Hypertrophic / Q000188:drug therapy*; D004890:Erythema / Q000188:drug therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015552:Injections, Intralesional; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009465:Neuromuscular Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D011446:Prospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014945:Wound Healing / Q000187:drug effects; D055815:Young Adult
D009465:Neuromuscular Agents; D019274:Botulinum Toxins, Type A