Background: Minimally invasive procedures provide effective, safe, relatively long-lasting, and natural results without large damage to the skin. A combination treatment is considered an approach that includes at least 2 different and unrelated modalities.
Objectives: This study aims to evaluate the use and effectiveness of some combined minimally invasive procedures for management of acne scarring.
Patients/methods: Twenty-four volunteers with postacne atrophic scars were randomly divided into 3 equal groups according to performed procedure on each side of the face (microneedling by dermaroller alone or combined with platelet-rich plasma [PRP] or trichloroacetic acid [TCA] 15% peeling) and received 6 bi-weekly sessions of treatment. Photography and punch biopsies were taken before and after 3 months of treatment for clinical, histological, and histometrical evaluation.
Results: Combined treatment of dermaroller and PRP or dermaroller and TCA 15% showed significant improvement when compared with dermaroller alone (P = .015 and .011 respectively). Epidermal thickness showed statistically significant increase in studied groups, mainly after dermaroller and TCA 15%. Moreover, the 3 studied groups showed more organized collagen bundles and newly formed collagen formation and markedly decreased abnormal elastic fibers.
Conclusions: Based on the clinical, histometrical, and histochemical assessment, inspite that most volunteers showed significant improvement after treatment, however, the combined use of dermaroller and TCA 15% was more effective in postacne atrophic scars than the use of dermaroller and PRP or dermaroller only.
Keywords: acne scarring; collagen-induction therapy; microneedling; platelet-rich plasma; trichloroacetic acid peeling.
© 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.