Investigation of optimal energy or density of a fractional CO laser system in the treatment of stable non-segmental vitiligo.

Background: Fractional carbon dioxide (CO2) laser has been considered to be an add-on to conventional treatments of vitiligo.

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the optimal energy and density of the fractional CO2 laser system in stable non-segmental vitiligo (NSV) patients.

Method: 48 patients were treated with fractional CO2 laser and sequential phototherapies of narrowband ultraviolet B (NB-UVB), after the CO2 laser treatment, a compound betamethasone solution was topically applied. For the fractional CO2 laser, coverages of 8% and 12.6% were set as low density (Ld) and high density (Hd), and energies of 60 mJ and 80 mJ were set as low energy (Le) and high energy (He), respectively. The patients were randomly assigned to Group A (HeHd), Group B (HeLd) or Group C (LeLd).

Results: Either after 3 or 6 months of enrollment, the efficacy of Group C was better than Group B (p < 0.05). No difference was seen between Group A and Group B or Group A and Group C (p > 0.05). More patients complained higher pain score in Group A as compared with Group C (p < 0.05).

Conclusion: The optimal parameters of the fractional CO2 laser were energy at 60 mJ and density at 8%.