Scientists say more research is needed before laser therapy can be recommended as a treatment for acne. Jeffrey S. Orringer and colleagues with the University of Michigan Medical School evaluated the clinical efficacy of a type of laser treatment, pulsed dye laser therapy, for the treatment of acne. The study - appearing in the The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) - was a randomized, controlled, clinical trial that included 40 patients aged 13 years or older with facial acne. Patients received one or two pulsed dye laser treatments to half of the face. The degree of acne was measured through blinded clinical assessments (lesion counts) and the use of standardized bilateral serial photographs comparing the treated and untreated sides of the face.
The researchers found no significant improvement in facial acne from the laser treatment. Changes in lesion counts for both sides of the face showed no statistically significant differences from baseline to week 12. Grading of serial photographs confirmed the clinical assessments.
"The fact that our study does not substantiate the positive results recently reported [in other studies] is not an indictment of laser therapy for acne in general, and does not necessarily rule out the possible role of this particular pulsed dye laser. However, it does suggest that additional studies are needed before the use of the pulsed dye laser becomes a part of acne therapy," the researchers conclude.
