Comparative study of the effectiveness and safety of porcine and bovine atelocollagen in Asian nasolabial fold correction

Bovine-derived collagen has been used for soft-tissue augmentation since 1977. However, there are issues regarding the possibility of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). Researchers discovered that the histologic structure of porcine-derived collagen is similar to that of human dermal collagen and that it is free from the risk of BSE. This study was conducted to establish the effectiveness and safety of porcine-derived collagen compared to bovine-derived collagen. The 73 patients included in this study were healthy volunteers who responded to an advertisement approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB). They had visited the authors’ hospital complaining of wrinkles on their nasolabial fold. Either porcine (TheraFill®) or bovine atelocollagen was randomly injected into each side of their nasolabial folds, and the five-grade Wrinkle Severity Rating Scale (WSRS) was used to evaluate the wrinkles before and after the injection. The average age of the 73 study patients was 46.18 years. The WSRS scores of the porcine and bovine atelocollagen-injected patients were 2.90 ± 0.71 and 2.85 ± 0.72 at the baseline and 2.15 ± 0.70 and 2.21 ± 0.67 after 6 months. There were no statistically significant differences between the two groups. Adverse effects of the porcine atelocollagen injection were seen in 12 patients, with the most common symptom being redness. This study showed that porcine atelocollagen can be used easily and without the need for the skin testing which is necessary before bovine atelocollagen injection. The efficacy of porcine atelocollagen is also similar to that of bovine atelocollagen.