Clinical application and mechanism of botulinum toxin type A in scar treatment

Pathological scars cause both local physical discomforts and mental disorders for patients. With the development of research, botulinum toxin type A (BTX-A) has been gradually used in the clinical treatment of scars. This article summarizes three potential mechanism of BTX-A, including early tension reduction, inhibition of connective tissue hyperplasia, and alleviation of local inflammation, as well as the clinical application of BTX-A in different types of scars. However, there is no uniform standard for the time, method, and ratio of BTX-A injection for scar treatment, and there is also a lack of long-term follow-up results. Further researches are needed to clarify the mechanism of BTX-A in inhibiting scar. Uniform protocol of BTX-A injection is yet to be established to provide more efficient treatment plan for scar.