Autologous fat transplantation for depressed linear scleroderma-induced facial atrophic scars

BACKGROUND: Facial linear scleroderma results in depressed atrophic scars. Autologous fat transplantation has been widely used, and fat appears to be an ideal material for filling depressed atrophic scars and contour deformities, but long-term results for autologous fat transplantation are controversial. OBJECTIVE: To review the short- and long-term results of 20 patients who underwent multiple autologous fat transplantations for depressed atrophic scar correction. METHODS: Twenty patients with clinically inactive facial linear scleroderma were included. They received at least two transplantations and had a 12-month follow-up evaluation. RESULTS: On the forehead, 51% to 75% improvement (average grading scale: 2.4) was achieved when observed at least 12 months after the last treatment. For the chin, correction was poor (average grading scale: 0.7) with less than 25% improvement. The infraorbital area showed fair correction, but the nose showed poor correction. Two of three patients with scalp reduction surgery showed excellent results, showing only slight scar widening. CONCLUSIONS: Autologous fat transplantation is an effective method for long-term correction of depressed atrophic scars left by linear scleroderma on the forehead but is less effective for corrections on the nose, infraorbital area, and chin.