Micro needling vs micro needling combined with autologous topical platelet rich plasma in the treatment of melasma: a prospective randomized comparative study

Abstract

<p><strong>Background: </strong>Melasma is one of the most common pigmentary disorders worldwide with a still unresolved pathogenesis and treatment continues to be challenging. To assess the effect of micro-needling vs combination of micro-needling followed by application of topical platelet rich plasma (PRP) in the treatment of melasma.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Sixty patients having melasma were randomly grouped into A and B. Group A underwent micro-needling alone and group B was subjected to micro-needling followed by topical application of autologous PRP. The patients were subjected to 3 treatment sessions at monthly intervals. Melasma area and severity index (MASI) and patient satisfaction scores were recorded at each sitting and the final outcome was recorded one month after the last session.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Twenty-four patients in group A and 27 patients from group B were selected for final analysis. There was significant improvement of MASI in both groups (Group A: p=0.001, group B: p=0.0001) however, the difference in improvement of MASI between the 2 groups was not significant (p=0.0457) Group B was highly satisfied with the treatment which was statistically significant (p=0.0001)</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Combining micro-needling with topical PRP appears to be a promising therapeutic modality in the treatment of melasma.</p><p><strong> </strong></p>