Adverse Events of Non-Ablative Fractional Laser Photothermolysis: A Retrospective Study of 856 Treatments in 362 Patients

The retrospective study of 856 treatments of non-ablative fractional laser photothermolysis (NAFP) in 362 Korean patients reported an overall adverse event incidence of 5.0%. The most common issues were prolonged erythema (1.8%), post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation (PIH) (1.1%), and aggravation of melasma (0.9%), with less frequent events like herpes simplex outbreak (0.6%) and acneiform eruption (0.2%). No long-term adverse events were observed. The study concluded that NAFP is a safe procedure with a low complication rate for Asian patients with skin phototypes III-IV, although it acknowledged the limitations of its retrospective nature and potential missed follow-ups.