Clinical observation and dermoscopy evaluation of fractional CO2 laser combined with topical tranexamic acid in melasma treatments

Abstract

Background: Melasma is an acquired refractory pigmentary disorder, which is a skin disease that predominantly affects females. This investigation aims to assess the efficacy of a low-power fractional CO2 laser combined with tranexamic acid (TXA) for melasma topical treatment with MASI and dermoscopy. Materials and Methods: A randomized comparative split-face study was performed. Each treatment interval was 3 weeks with four times in total. At the same time, we applied TXA solution twice a day. Assessments were made by the MASI score of the melasma area severity index, and the dermoscopy performance was collected and analyzed. Results: After treatments, the patient MASI score decreased significantly. Compared with the baseline, the MASI score was significantly lower than that of control group (P