title: Clinical effect of ablative fractional laser-assisted topical anesthesia on human skin: A randomized pilot study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Most topical medications need a long time to penetrate into the skin owing to the stratum corneum (SC) barrier. The fractional erbium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet (Er:YAG) laser has the ability to disrupt the SC and assist in the delivery of topical drugs to penetrate into the skin. This study was intended to determine whether pretreatment with a painless fractional Er:YAG laser could assist transdermal delivery of topical anesthesia.
  
  
  METHODS
  In 22 healthy female subjects, three 4 × 3 cm regions on the right forearm were randomized to: fractional laser plus topical lidocaine cream (Group LaserAnes), sham irradiation plus topical anesthesia (Group Anes), and sham irradiation plus sham anesthesia (Group Con). After 5 minutes, each site was treated with yttrium scandium gallium garnet laser to evaluate the pain sensation using the visual analog scale.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The average pain scores of Group LaserAnes, Group Anes, and Group Con are 3.74 ± 1.93, 4.90 ± 2.09, and 5.19 ± 2.15, respectively. The pain score of Group LaserAnes has a 25.57% reduction compared to Group Anes (p < 0.001) and a 28.70% reduction compared to Group Con (p < 0.001). There is no significant pain reduction for Group Anes compared with Group Con (p = 0.094).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Pretreatment using fractional Er:YAG laser before topicals might be an effective method for drug delivery.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Dermatology , No.1 Hospital of China Medical University , Shenyang , China.
authors.forename: Tian
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.affiliation: a Department of Dermatology , No.1 Hospital of China Medical University , Shenyang , China.
authors.forename: Yaojia
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.affiliation: a Department of Dermatology , No.1 Hospital of China Medical University , Shenyang , China.
authors.forename: Tianling
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: a Department of Dermatology , No.1 Hospital of China Medical University , Shenyang , China.
authors.forename: Yuxi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.affiliation: a Department of Dermatology , No.1 Hospital of China Medical University , Shenyang , China.
authors.forename: Aijiao
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: a Department of Dermatology , No.1 Hospital of China Medical University , Shenyang , China.
authors.forename: Hongduo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: a Department of Dermatology , No.1 Hospital of China Medical University , Shenyang , China.
authors.forename: Xinghua
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: a Department of Dermatology , No.1 Hospital of China Medical University , Shenyang , China.
authors.forename: Yuanhong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000287:Administration, Topical; D000328:Adult; D000779:Anesthetics, Local / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D044466:Asian People; D005260:Female; D005542:Forearm; D006801:Humans; D053685:Laser Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D053844:Lasers, Solid-State / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D010147:Pain Measurement; D012060:Rejuvenation; D012867:Skin / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D000779:Anesthetics, Local
keywords: Ablative fractional laser; drug delivery; topical anesthesia