Platelet-Rich Plasma Augments Subcision in Atrophic Acne Scars: A Split-Face Comparative Study

BACKGROUND Acne has a prevalence of 90% among adolescents. Facial scarring affects 75% of patients. Autologous platelet-rich plasma (PRP) is a novel treatment option for acne scar management and can be used as an adjuvant to acne scar revision procedures. Owing to its remodeling properties, PRP when used as an adjuvant reduces the total number of sittings. OBJECTIVE To compare efficacy of autologous PRP and subcision against subcision alone in acne scars. METHODOLOGY It was an experimental analytical study conducted over a period of 2 years. Forty patients successfully completed the trial. It was a split-face study in which the right side of the face was the study side where autologous PRP was injected into each scar after performing subcision. The left side of the face was the control side where only subcision was performed. Digital photographs were taken at every sitting. Analysis was performed using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test and Mann–Whitney tests in SPSS software. RESULTS Platelet-rich plasma and subcision showed greater improvement (32.08%) in postacne scars as compared to subcision alone (8.33%). Rolling acne scars responded greatest (39.27%) followed by box-type scars (33.88%). CONCLUSION Platelet-rich plasma and subcision act synergistically to improve the appearance of acne scars. Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Vasudha Belgaumkar, MBBS, MD (Skin VD), Department of Dermatology, B.J. Medical College, Pune-411001, India, or email: doc_vasudha@yahoo.co.in V.A. Belgaumkar is supported by the Fogarty International Center of the US National Institutes of Health (grant #D43TW00957). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. V.A. Belgaumkar and N.S. Deshmukh contributed equally toward research design and implementation and manuscript preparation and should be considered as first authors. The authors have indicated no significant interest with commercial supporters. © 2018 by the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery, Inc. Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.

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