• Tarik D Madni, Paul A Nakonezny, Jonathan B Imran, Audra T Clark, Holly B Cunningham, John E Hoopman, Brett D Arnoldo, Steven E Wolf, Jeffrey M Kenkel, and Herb A Phelan.
• UT Southwestern Department of Surgery, Dallas, TX, United States. Electronic address: Tarik.madni@utsouthwestern.edu.
• Burns. 2018 Aug 1; 44 (5): 1100-1105.

ObjectiveFractional laser therapy is a new treatment with potential benefit in the treatment of burn scars. We sought to determine patient satisfaction after burn scar treatment with the Erbium-Yag laser.MethodsWe performed a telephone survey of all patients who underwent fractional resurfacing of burn scars with the Erbium-Yag 2940 wavelength laser at Parkland Hospital from 01/01/2016 to 05/01/2017. Subjects were asked to rate their satisfaction with their scars' after treatment characteristics on a scale from 1 (completely unsatisfied) to 10 (completely satisfied). Subjects were also asked to assess their treatment response using the UNC 4P Scar Scale before and after treatment.ResultsSixty-four patients underwent 156 treatments. A survey response rate of 77% (49/64) was seen (age: 36.8+21 years; surface area treated=435+326cm2; 35% of burn scars were >2 years old; mean scar age of 1.02+0.4 years). Overall, 46/49 (94%) of patients reported some degree of scar improvement after treatment. Patient satisfaction scores were 8.3+2.3. Number of laser treatments included: 1 (31%), 2 (33%), 3 (18%), 4(10%), >5 (8%). Treatment depth, scar age, and number of laser procedures were not significant predictors of satisfaction or UNC 4P Scar scores. The paired t-test showed a significant reduction on each of the UNC 4P Scar scale items (pain, pruritus, pliability, paresthesia). One subject reported that she felt that the laser treatment made her scar worse (2%).ConclusionBurn patients treated with the Erbium-Yag laser are highly satisfied with changes in their burn scars.Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

5 keywords...

hide…