Effectiveness of laser and topical tranexamic acid combination therapy in melasma: An updated systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Melasma is a chronic relapsing skin condition. Laser therapy is a new advancement in treatment. Whether the topical application of tranexamic acid (TXA) increases the efficacy of laser therapy in melasma is still under debate. With recent studies yielding different results, it was imperative to comp...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Lasers in medical science 2023-06, Vol.38 (1), p.139-139, Article 139
Main Authors: Khan, Qaisar Ali, Abdi, Parsa, Farkouh, Christopher, Anthony, Michelle R., Chundru, Akshai, Amatul, Faiza, Parimi, Kavya, Santiago, Natalia, Farkouh, Matthew, Iram, Sumaira, Khan, Arooba
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acids
Carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide lasers
Clinical trials
Combination therapy
Dentistry
Effectiveness
Lasers
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Meta-analysis
Optical Devices
Optics
Photonics
Quantum Optics
Review Article
Search engines
Subgroups
Therapy
Topical application
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Melasma is a chronic relapsing skin condition. Laser therapy is a new advancement in treatment. Whether the topical application of tranexamic acid (TXA) increases the efficacy of laser therapy in melasma is still under debate. With recent studies yielding different results, it was imperative to compile all the available literature systematically. This meta-analysis investigates the effectiveness of a combination therapy of laser plus TXA acid for treating melasma. PubMed/MEDLINE, Cochrane Central, Google Scholar, Scopus, and the International Clinical Trials registry were systematically searched for article retrieval. Screening per PRISMA guidelines was undertaken by two independent reviewers using the Covidance database. Melasma area of severity index (MASI)/modified MASI was used as the clinical improvement outcomes. A total of nine studies that described the combined use of topical tranexamic acid with laser therapy were included for meta-analysis. These studies employed various types of lasers along with topical TXA. The results showed that the combination of both laser therapy and topical TXA significantly decreased the MASI score ( P < 0.0001). Subgroup analyses revealed that fractional CO 2 laser among the laser types and monthly laser plus twice daily topical TXA were most effective in decreasing the MASI/mMASI score. The meta-analysis found that combining topical tranexamic acid and laser therapy is an effective and safer treatment option for treatment-resistant melasma. Furthermore, monthly fractional CO 2 laser and daily application of topical tranexamic acid showed high effectiveness and safety.
ISSN:1435-604X
0268-8921
1435-604X
DOI:10.1007/s10103-023-03810-5