Treatment Outcomes for Dermatosis Papulosa Nigra Using Low-Intensity Electrodesiccation Device in African Patients

We aimed to document the treatment outcomes of African patients treated with low-intensity electrodesiccation for DPN's. Other treatment options for DPN's include snip excision, light curettage, cryotherapy, and lasers devices such as PDL, Nd: YAG, KTP, and CO2, which are generally unsafe for darker skin types and come with high costs.

Nonprobability convenience sampling of patient records was used to extract retrospective data on demographics and treatment outcomes according to the inclusion criteria. The retrospective data analysis included chi-squared tests for associations, Kaplan-Meier survival analysis, and logistic regression analysis to examine relationships between dependent and independent variables.

A total of 137 patients were included in the study, with the majority being female (n = 129; 94.16%) compared with their male counterparts (n = 8; 5.84%). Most patients were under 40 years of age (n = 74; 54.00%), whereas the remaining were above 40 years of age (n = 63; 46.00%). The majority of patients had Fitzpatrick skin type V (n = 99; 72.26%). Adverse events such as milia (n = 4) and scarring (n = 2) were observed, but these were not associated with age, sex, or survival rate (p value > 0.05).

The study was conducted at a single center, which limits the ability to generalize the results.

The low-intensity electrodesiccation technique was found to be a safe and cost-effective method for treating DPN's in African patients.