Burn Scars Treated by Pinhole Method Using a Carbon Dioxide Laser
AUTHORS: Sung Won Whang1, Kyu-Yeop Lee1,Sung Bin Cho1, Sang Joo Lee2, Jin Moon Kang2, Young Koo Kim2, In Hwan Nam3, Kee Yang Chung1
RESEARCH SITES: 1Department of Dermatology and Cutaneous Biology Research Institute, Yonsei University College of Medicine, 2Yonsei Star Skin and Laser Clinic, Seoul,3Daejeon Severance Skin Clinic, Daejeon, Korea
PUBLICATION: J Dermatol. 2006 Dec;33(12):869- 72.
YEAR: 2006
Many patients with burn injuries have various complications and emotional problems due to scars. Although various modalities to improve burn scars have been attempted, such as excision of scars, skin grafts, laser abrasion and silicone product usage, the cosmetic outcomes have not been satisfactory for a large portion of patients. Herein, we describe two cases which showed satisfactory cosmetic results after treatment of burns scars with the pinhole method using a carbon dioxide (CO2) laser that allowed us to make deep, closely set holes reaching down to the upper dermis.
A 20-year-old female patient with a scar on her neck and a 25-year-old female patient with a scar on her right forearm after burn injuries are presented. As early as only a few weeks after the treatment, the scars showed relaxation of
contracture, reduction of wrinkles and improvement of texture and color compared to before the treatment. Treatment of burn scars with the pinhole method can be easily performed and results in dramatic improvement in scar quality with only a few side-effects.