Kim W, Park JS, Kim EH. Refractory lipoatrophy treated with autologous whole blood injection: A case report. World J Clin Cases 2025; 13(2): 94530 [DOI: 10.12998/wjcc.v13.i2.94530]
Corresponding Author of This Article
En Hyung Kim, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Dermatology, College of Medicine, Chungbuk National University, Chungdae-ro 1, Seowon-Gu, Cheongju 28644, Chungbuk, South Korea. ehk@chungbuk.ac.kr
Research Domain of This Article
Dermatology
Article-Type of This Article
Case Report
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Clin Cases. Jan 16, 2025; 13(2): 94530 Published online Jan 16, 2025. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v13.i2.94530
Refractory lipoatrophy treated with autologous whole blood injection: A case report
Wonnam Kim, Jun Su Park, En Hyung Kim
Wonnam Kim, Department of Pharmacology, School of Korean Medicine, Pusan National University, Yangsan 50612, Gyeongnam, South Korea
Jun Su Park, En Hyung Kim, Department of Dermatology, College of Medicine, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju 28644, Chungbuk, South Korea
Jun Su Park, En Hyung Kim, Department of Dermatology, Chungbuk National University Hospital, Cheongju 28644, Chungbuk, South Korea
Author contributions: Kim W and Kim EH contributed to manuscript writing, conceptualization, editing and data analysis; Kim EH contributed to supervision; Park JS contributed to data collection and visualization; all of the authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript to be published.
Supported by The New Faculty Research Grant of Pusan National University, 2023; and The Research Grant of the Chungbuk National University in 2023.
Informed consent statement: Informed written consent was obtained from the patient for publication of this report and any accompanying images.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest to disclose.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: The authors have read the CARE Checklist (2016), and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CARE Checklist (2016).
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: En Hyung Kim, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Dermatology, College of Medicine, Chungbuk National University, Chungdae-ro 1, Seowon-Gu, Cheongju 28644, Chungbuk, South Korea. ehk@chungbuk.ac.kr
Received: March 20, 2024 Revised: October 1, 2024 Accepted: October 25, 2024 Published online: January 16, 2025 Processing time: 232 Days and 20.5 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Intramuscular corticosteroid injection may cause adverse effects such as dermal and/or subcutaneous atrophy, alopecia, hypopigmentation, and hyperpigmentation. Although cutaneous atrophy can spontaneously resolve, several treatment options have been suggested for this condition.
CASE SUMMARY
In this paper, we report a case of corticosteroid injection induced lipoatrophy treated with autologous whole blood (AWB) injection, as the condition had been unresponsive to fractional laser therapy. A 29-year-old female patient visited the dermatology clinic complaining of skin depression on her right buttock area, which had appeared six months earlier. There had been only subtle improvement at the margins after fractional CO2 laser treatment; therefore, after obtaining informed consent from the patient, AWB treatment was initiated. One month after the first AWB injection, the size and depth of the lesion had noticeably improved, and a slight improvement was also observed in discoloration.
CONCLUSION
Close observation is the initial treatment of choice for steroid induced skin atrophy; however, for patients in need of immediate cosmetic improvement, AWB injection may be a safe and cost-effective alternative.
Core Tip: Intramuscular corticosteroid injection may cause adverse effects such as dermal and/or subcutaneous atrophy, alopecia, hypopigmentation, and hyperpigmentation. Although cutaneous atrophy can spontaneously resolve, several treatment options have been suggested for this condition. Here, we report a case of corticosteroid injections induced lipoatrophy treated with autologous whole blood (AWB) injection, which was unresponsive to fractional laser therapy. Close observation is the initial treatment of choice for steroid induced skin atrophy, however for patient in need of immediate cosmetic improvement, AWB injection may be a safe and cost-effective solution for treatment.
