{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,29]],"date-time":"2026-09-29T23:14:42Z","timestamp":1790723682592,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":40,"publisher":"Oxford University Press (OUP)","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,6]],"date-time":"2026-02-06T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1770336000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/academic.oup.com\/pages\/standard-publication-reuse-rights"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,6]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>Skin fibrosis, especially hypertrophic scars (HTSs), remains understudied with few effective treatments. Studying HTS is challenging due to its natural tendency to improve over time, making it hard to separate intervention effects. This study evaluated fractional ablative laser treatment for symptomatic HTSs, focusing on variability in patient response. It was hypothesized that pain and itch would decrease posttreatment, and that demographic or injury characteristics might predict responders. A retrospective chart review analyzed pretreatment and 6 postlaser sessions using the Patient Scar Assessment Scale for pain and itch (1\u2009=\u2009low, 10\u2009=\u2009high). Patients showing a\u2009\u2265\u20093 point improvement were classified as \u201cresponders\u201d (n\u2009=\u200948 for pain, n\u2009=\u200962 for itch); those with \u2264 2 point improvement or worsening were \u201cnonresponders\u201d (n\u2009=\u200962 for pain, n\u2009=\u200976 for itch). In total, 110 patients were analyzed for pain and 137 for itch. Most patients were nonresponders for both pain (56.4%) and itch (55.1%). Responders experienced significant reductions in pain and itch after the first session, with stable scores thereafter (P &amp;lt; .0001). Nonresponders showed no significant improvement in pain and, for itch, even a significant worsening after the first session. No significant differences were found between groups based on sex, skin type, race, scar age, scar size, or patient age. Responders had higher baseline pain and itch scores than nonresponders. The greatest symptom relief occurred after the first treatment. Demographic and injury characteristics did not predict treatment response.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1093\/jbcr\/irag012","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,6]],"date-time":"2026-02-06T12:43:34Z","timestamp":1770381814000},"page":"1035-1043","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Patient-Reported Levels of Pain and Itch in Hypertrophic Scar Before and After Fractional Ablative Laser Treatment"],"prefix":"10.1093","volume":"47","author":[{"given":"Joshua P","family":"Carreras","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Firefighters\u2019 Burn and Surgical Research Laboratory, MedStar Health Research Institute , Washington, DC 20010 ,","place":["United States"]},{"name":"Georgetown University School of Medicine , Washington, DC 20057 ,","place":["United States"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2292-4960","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Bonnie 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, Washington, DC 20057 ,","place":["United States"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4394-6416","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jeffrey W","family":"Shupp","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Firefighters\u2019 Burn and Surgical Research Laboratory, MedStar Health Research Institute , Washington, DC 20010 ,","place":["United States"]},{"name":"Department of Surgery, Georgetown University School of Medicine , Washington, DC 20057 ,","place":["United States"]},{"name":"Department of Biochemistry and Molecular & Cellular Biology, Georgetown University Medical Center , Washington, DC 20057 ,","place":["United States"]},{"name":"The Burn Center, Department of Surgery, MedStar Washington Hospital Center , Washington, DC 20010 ,","place":["United States"]},{"name":"Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Georgetown University School of Medicine , Washington, DC 20057 ,","place":["United 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