title: Fractionated carbon dioxide laser treatment of photoaging: prospective study in 45 patients and review of the literature.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Ablative fractional photothermolysis (AFP) has been reported to be effective for photoaging.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To perform a clinical trial in 45 patients with moderate to severe skin photoaging to quantify improvement with AFP.
  
  
  METHODS
  A prospective, single-blind study in 45 patients who presented for desired treatment of photoaging. Patients received a series of two to three treatments with AFP.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Thirty-nine women (86.7%) and six men (13.3%) were enrolled. Patients received two or three treatment sessions (mean 2.4). There were no incidence of adverse events of scarring, prolonged erythema (lasting more than 7 days), postinflammatory hyper- or hypopigmentation, or infection in the 108 treatment sessions given during this study. Mean improvement was 48.5% (95% confidence interval (CI)=44.6-52.4%) for skin texture, 50.3% (95% CI=46.1-54.5%) for skin laxity, 53.9% (95% CI=49.5-58.5%) for dyschromia, and 52.4% (95% CI=47.9-56.9%) for overall cosmetic outcome (all p<.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Significant improvement in photoaging of the face can be achieved using an AFP device with skin types I to III after a series of two to three treatments.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, School of Medicine, Tufts University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Emily P
authors.initials: EP
authors.lastname: Tierney
authors.forename: C William
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Hanke
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D053685:Laser Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D054020:Lasers, Gas / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D015361:Rhytidoplasty / Q000379:methods*; D016037:Single-Blind Method; D015595:Skin Aging; D016896:Treatment Outcome