Current options for the treatment of pathological scarring

Abstract

Scarring is the consequence of surgery, trauma or different skin diseases. Apart from fresh, immature scars,that transform into mature scars over the course of would healing and that do not require further treatment,linear hypertrophic scars, widespread hypertrophic scars, keloids and atrophic scars exist. Symptoms like pruritusand pain, stigmatization as well as functional and aesthetic impairments that are very disturbing for the affected patients can bethe basis for the desire for treatment. Today, a multitude of options for the treatment and prevention of scars exists. Topical agents based on silicone or onion extract, intralesional injections of cristalline glucocorticoids (oftentimes in combinationwith cryotherapy) or 5-Fluorouracil as well as ablative and nonablative laser treatment are used. Current guidelines summarize the multitude of available treatment options and the currently available datafor the treating physicians, allowing them to make clear therapy recommendations for every single scar type. Relieving patients of their discomfort and doing their aesthetic demands justice is thus possible. Apart from scar prevention becoming more and more important, the increased use of modernlaser treatment options constitutes a key point in clinical scar treatment. At the same time the attention is turned to evaluating current therapeutic options with the help of contemporary study designs so as to graduallyimprove the level of evidence in scar treatment.