ReviewCureus2024
Preventing Pilonidal Sinus Recurrence With Laser Hair Epilation: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.
Review in Cureus, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- International Society of Laser Proctology Position Paper on SiLaC and EPSiT/SiLaC in the Management of Pilonidal Sinus Disease.Lasers in surgery and medicine · 2025Guideline
- Treatment Outcomes of Presacral Pilonidal Sinus Disease Using Crystallised Phenol: A Single-Centre Clinical Series.International wound journal · 2026Article
- Outcomes of Pilonidal Surgery Performed in the Setting of Standard Adjunct Laser Hair Removal: A Retrospective Cohort Study.International wound journal · 2026Article
- Light-based Epilation as an Adjunct to Surgery in the Management of Pilonidal Disease: A Meta-analysis.Plastic and reconstructive surgery. Global open · 2026Article
- Combined laser ablation and pit excision for pilonidal sinus: effectiveness, quality of recovery, and patient-reported outcomes.BMC surgery · 2025Article
- A Novel Scoring System for Pilonidal Disease: Predicting Complications and Guiding Surgical Management.Cureus · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Pilonidal sinus disease (PSD) is a common condition associated with significant morbidity and healthcare costs. High recurrence rates still pose a considerable challenge in managing PSD, with no universally accepted guideline in place to guide management. Laser hair epilation offers a way to reduce recurrence rates with reports within the current literature demonstrating positive outcomes compared to alternative approaches. This review was conducted by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) statement standards. The primary outcome measure was the recurrence rate of PSD at a minimum of one year following laser hair epilation. The electronic databases of MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, Google Scholar, PubMed, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) were searched. OpenMeta Analyst (Brown University School of Public Health, Providence, RI) software was used for data synthesis. Three randomized controlled trials met the inclusion criteria with laser hair epilation treatments offering a significant reduction in PSD recurrence rates on odds ratio analysis: 0.319 ( 0.160, 0.636),
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.