Interventional Study to Evaluate the Appearance of Surgical Scars After Laser Therapy

This study evaluates the effect of a fractionated carbon dioxide laser on surgical scars of the face and neck over 12 months. Anyone with a surgical scar on the face and neck who has not had laser therapy may be eligible to participate. The visits occur every three months for up to 12 months. Subjects will be randomly assigned to receive a higher energy treatment or a lower energy treatment during the study. Subjects and raters will be blinded to which therapy level the patient receives. At each visit, the scars will be photographed and the subject will complete a questionnaire to rate the scar prior to treatment. Three physicians will evaluate the scar at each visit. One rater will evaluate the scars in person during the visit, while the other two raters will evaluate the scars using photographs after each visit. During the first three study visits, subjects will receive their assigned treatment, obtain post-treatment instructions, and a diary to record redness, swelling, pain, itching, or other skin changes after treatment. At the third study visit, subjects will have the option to receive additional treatments or terminate their participation in the study. The fourth visit for those who continue will be a treatment visit for one group and the fifth visit will be for data collection, with no treatment offered.