Comparison of Clinical Outcomes of CO Laser-Assisted Blepharoplasty Using Two Different Methods.

[PURPOSE] Numerous methods have been developed for blepharoplasty, including carbon dioxide (CO) laser-assisted blepharoplasty. Although the superiority of CO laser compared with the scalpel for blepharoplasty has been proposed, to the best of our knowledge, no study has compared the clinical outcomes of blepharoplasty with the CO laser alone versus the combined use of a scalpel and CO laser.

[PATIENTS AND METHODS] In the present randomized clinical trial, 21 healthy patients underwent bilateral upper eyelid blepharoplasty. For each patient, an initial skin incision was made using the CO laser (setting, continuous emission; ultrapulse mode; 3 W of power) on 1 side and a scalpel on the other side. The remaining blepharoplasty steps were conducted using the CO laser (setting, continuous emission; 9 W of power) in both groups. The patients were evaluated on postoperative days 1, 3, 7, 14, and 30 using the postoperative repair criteria, including edema and ecchymosis. The Manchester scar scale was used to evaluate the results at 60 days after surgery.

[RESULTS] Our comparison of the 2 methods showed no significant differences at 1 month after surgery using the evaluation criteria. The scar index was not significantly different after 60 days, despite lower scores in the scalpel group.

[CONCLUSIONS] In upper eyelid blepharoplasty, making an initial incision with a scalpel, followed by use of a laser provides advantages similar to those found by performing the entire procedure with a CO laser alone.