This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.

Study: Poly-L-lactic acid improved hill and valley acne scarring

Injectable poly-_L-lactic acid treatment improved hill and valley acne scarring and was well-tolerated by patients, according to study results.

In a single-arm, unblinded open-label phase 2 study conducted between October 2008 and September 2009, researchers in Canada injected poly-_L-lactic acid over three to four serial treatments in 4-week intervals to 22 patients (mean age, 37.6 years). Likert scales, based on comparisons of photos taken at baseline to photos taken at treatment visits 2 to 4 and follow up, were used to determine the primary efficacy endpoint, the degree of change in hill and valley scarring by the physician, a blinded evaluator and the patient. There also was a secondary endpoint of patient satisfaction, also assessed by Likert scale.

Baseline acne severity was 1.4 ± 1.43, with the malar region below the eyes was the most severely scarred treatment region. The mean volume of poly-_L-lactic acid injected at each session was 9.5 mL on average, with mean total volume injected for each patients of 37 ± 5.08 mL.

A range of 45.5% to 68.2% of patients rated the changes “much to excellent improvement” using the VISIA-CR quantitative skin measurement system, considered by researchers the most sensitive camera system. There was a 44% increase in patient treatment satisfaction scores.

Eight patients experienced treatment-related adverse events, with one patient experiencing a palpable nonvisible nodule appearing one day after a treatment session.

“The data … indicate that poly-_L-lactic acid does have a potential for benefit in treating patients with hill and valley scarring,” the researchers concluded. “Further investigation of poly-_L-lactic acid for the treatment of hill and valley scarring in a larger population set will help to confirm or refute the observations of improvement.” — by Bruce Thiel

Disclosure: Funding for the study was provided by Sanofi-Aventis, Canada. Medical writing services were provided by inScience Communications, Spinger Healthcare and funded by Sanofi-Aventis, Canada. Sapra reports no relevant financial disclosures. Please see the study for a full list of other researchers’ relevant financial disclosures.