Striae gravidarum is a common skin condition resulting after pregnancy, caused by fibroblast dysfunction. Although not considered a disease, it may be considered cosmetically unpleasant to sufferers and remains as a therapeutic challenge to date.

The objective of a recent study published in Dermatologic Surgery was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of a sublative bipolar fractional radiofrequency (FRF) system, associated with 0.1% topical tretinoin, in treating striae gravidarum.

This was a randomized pilot study involving 18 Chinese women with striae gravidarum on the abdomen. The target area of each patient was divided into four sites randomly: control, tretinoin, FRF and tretinoin plus FRF—fractional RF was used 3 times, with 3-month intervals. Changes to striae gravidarum were evaluated through subjective scaling and objective measures.

The results showed that both subjective assessment and skin thickness differences demonstrated significant improvement in the combination site. Average optical density and density percentage of neocollagen and elastic fibers were also markedly increased in the combination site. Meanwhile, the adverse effects of FRF were limited to mild pain and transient erythema, edema and microcrusts.

From the findings, it was inferred that the combined therapy of FRF and topical tretinoin may be a potential method in treating striae gravidarum, with satisfactory efficacy and limited side effects.

Source: Dermatologic Surgery. 2019 Oct;45(10):1245-1252. doi: 10.1097/DSS.0000000000001933.