A Double Blinded Sham Controlled Trial of Fractional CO2 Laser Treatment Using the DEKA SmartXide Touch Laser System (MonaLisa Touch) for the Treatment of Vulvar Lichen Sclerosus

Lichen sclerosus (LS) is a chronic cutaneous disorder affecting approximately one in seventy women. Presenting symptoms may include intense pruritus, pain, burning, and severe dyspareunia. This disorder may affect any area of the skin, but has a notable predilection for the anogenital skin. Extra-genital involvement is infrequent, affecting only 11% of women with LS. Affected females outnumber affect males by 10:1. There is bimodal peak incidence in premenarchal girls and menopausal women with an average age of onset of 51 years of age.

The typical lesions of LS are white plaques and papules, often with areas of ecchymosis, excoriation, and ulceration. Often, there is destruction of the vulva architecture with scarring of the clitoral prepuce, resorption of the labia minora, and narrowing of the introitus. Four to six percent of women with LS will develop vulvar carcinoma. The histopathologic changes of LS are distinctive and make biopsy a very useful diagnostic tool. Characteristic pathologic finding include hyperkeratosis of the epidermis, epidermal atrophy with loss of rete ridges, homogenization of the collagen in the upper dermis, and a lichenoid (band-like) inflammatory infiltrate in the dermis. While there is no known cure for LS, the current gold standard treatment is ultra-potent corticosteroids. When properly administered, topical ultra-potent corticosteroids help to resolve the symptoms of pruritus and burning and can prevent further vulvar scarring. In addition, proper treatment reverses the underlying histopathologic changes of LS, and preliminary data shows that the risk of malignant transformation also declines.

Although treatment with topical corticosteroids is effective, topical corticosteroids may have serious local and systemic side effects, including dermal thinning, skin atrophy, superimposed infections, rebound dermatitis, and adrenal insufficiency. Due to these side effects, long- term use of corticosteroids for the treatment of vulvar lichen sclerosus may be inadvisable. Therefore, a safe and effective alternative intervention is needed for this disorder.

Recently, microablative fractional CO 2 laser (SmartXide 2 V 2 LR CO 2 laser system, for MonaLisa Touch, DEKA, Florence, Italy) has been proposed for the management of LS. This type of laser has a wavelength of 10,600 nm that allows a superficial microablative effect in soft tissues and a pulsed beam that protects the tissues from possible overheating damage. The laser beam is delivered to the tissue in a fractional manner, creating small spots (called DOTs) alternating parts of tissue treated and not treated. The size of each DOT is set by the manufacturer at 150 - 200 μm. Moreover, it has a DEKA pulse (D-pulse) mode that consists of two parts: (a) constant, high energy peak power, for rapid superficial evaporation of the atrophic epithelium with low water content and (b) lower peak power with longer emission times that allows the energy heat to penetrate deeper in the epithelium. This D-pulse mode combined with DOTs remodels the connective tissue via the production of heat shock protein 47 and produces new collagen/fibroblasts and ground matrix.

Recently, two small studies demonstrated that fractional CO 2 laser (FxCO 2 ) therapy appears to be a promising treatment modality to treat lichen sclerosus. These studies demonstrated that FxCO 2 treatment may stimulate protein synthesis, accelerate tissue reconstruction, and decrease lichenification. Furthermore, after elimination of local inflammation, the stimulus of nerve endings was reduced, so the clinical manifestations of LS, such as intense vulvar pruritus and burning were improved.