الفهرس 
Striae DistensaeOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Striae distensae, an extremely common condition, are a challenging cosmetic problem and pose a significant psychological burden for patients. Various treatment modalities have been applied with low satisfaction rate.
The present study was designed to compare between microneedling only, microneedling with topical vitamin C application and fractional CO2 LASER in treatment of abdominal striae distansae alba using clinical and histopathologic evaluation.
Thirty patients (five patients skipped the study) with skin types III-IV aged between 19-45 years old (mean 29.84 + 6.14) were enrolled in this study. The duration of striae alba varied from 3 to 18 years (mean 7.16 + 4.46) The affected areas of the abdomen were divided into three parts: right, left and middle. The right part of the abdomen (Area A) was treated by microneedling only, the middle part (Area B) of the abdomen was treated with microneedling and topical vitamin C 15% application and The left part of the abdomen (Area C) was treated with fractional CO2 LASER.
Sessions were done for a total of three sessions with a monthly interval.
Clinical evaluation was done by two blinded dermatologists, evaluating photographs of the patients before and after treatment. In addition, a patients’ satisfaction score was also obtained. Microneedling only and microneedling with topical vitamin C were superiors in clinical evaluation.
Hyperpigmentation was only observed in five cases in areas treated with factional CO2 LASER.
A 4 mm punch biopsy was obtained from any striae randomly assigned, prior to treatment and one biopsy was obtained from each side one month after the last session. Histopathological evaluation was done. There was statistically significant increase in collagen, elastin, epidermal thickness and rete ridges after treatment with the three treatment groups. The highest rate of collagen and elastin induction was induced by microneedling with vitamin C followed by fractional CO2 LASER then microneedling only.