BOSTON ― The use of carbon dioxide (CO2) laser excision therapy for hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) is not associated with an increased risk for the development of keloids, new research shows.
"With keloids disproportionately affecting Black and other skin of color patients, denying treatment on a notion that lacks evidentiary support further potentiates the health disparities experienced by these marginalized groups," the researchers reported at the Annual Meeting of the Skin of Color Society Scientific Symposium (SOCS) 2022. In their retrospective study of 129 patients with HS treated with CO2 laser, "there were no cases of keloid formation," they say.
HS, a potentially debilitating chronic inflammatory condition that involves painful nodules, boils, and abscesses, is often refractory to standard treatment. CO2 laser excision therapy has yielded favorable outcomes in some studies.
Although CO2 laser therapy is also used to treat keloids, some clinicians hesitate to use this treatment in these patients because of concerns that its use for treating HS could trigger the development of keloids.
"Many patients come in telling us they were denied [CO2laser] surgery due to keloids," senior author Iltefat Hamzavi, MD, a senior staff physician in the Department of Dermatology at the Henry Ford Health System, in Detroit, Michigan, told
