TABLE 1.

Histologic and immunologic findings

Indication	LASER		Author	Country	Design	Follow‐up a	Sample size, n	Age (years) b ; menopause status	Treatment settings	No. treatments, interval	Conclusion	Adverse events
GSM	CO2		Pagano et al. (2021) 12	Italy	Cohort	N/A	20	58.7 ± 6.6; Postmenopausal	Internal: 30 W, stack 1–3. External: 24 W, stack 1	3 sessions, 1 months	Remodeling of vulvar connective tissue, improvement in vulvar epithelium trophism, and neovascularization	N/A
			Athanasiou et al. (2016) 13	Greece	Cohort	3 months, first	53	57.2 ± 5.4; Postmenopausal	40 W, stack 1–3	3 sessions, 1 months	Significant reduction in vaginal pH, increase in Lactobacillus morphotypes and improvement in vaginal epithelia	No SAE. Transient: mild irritation of the introitus
UI	Er:YAG		Lapii et al. (2017) 14	Russia	Cohort	2 months, last	98	49.0 ± 12.5; N/A	2940 nm	2 sessions, 1–1.5 months	Neo‐collagengenesis. Elastogenesis. Neo‐angiogenesis. Reduction of epithelial degeneration and atrophy. Improvement in fibroblast population	N/A
			Lapii et al. (2017) 15	Russia	Cohort	2 months, last	18	49 ± 12.5; N/A	2940 nm	N/A	Significant improvement in Ki‐67‐labeled nuclei. Epithelial proliferative activity. Neocollagenogenesis. Neoangiogenesis. High concentration of elastic fibers	N/A
VVA	CO2		Salvatore et al. (2018) 16	Italy	Cohort	N/A	1	63; Postmenopausal	30 W	1 session	Thicker epithelium, and cells are larger. Connective tissue different; numerous papillae, richer in blood vessels, and many fibroblasts	N/A
			Zerbinati et al. (2014) 17	Italy	Other	2 months, last	5	57 (54–63); Postmenopausal	100 mJ	1 session	Improvement in fibroblasts and rough endoplasmatic reticulum. Thicker epithelium. Large amount of glycogen. Improvement in capillaries	No SAE
			Becorpi et al. (2018) 18	Italy	Cohort	1 months, last	20	58.2; Postmenopausal	30 W, stack 1	N/A	High remodeling status in vaginal epithelium is demonstrated by the significant changes in inflammatory and modulatory cytokine patterns. No significant change in the bacteria	N/A
			Salvatore et al. (2015) 19	Italy	Cohort	N/A	5	63 (57–71); Postmenopausal	30 W	1 session	Changes in the epithelium and lamina propria in relation to mild ablative effects, fibroblasts activation, modifications of collagen, elastic fibers, and mucopolysaccharides in the lamina propria	N/A
	Er:YAG		Gaspar et al. (2020) 20	Argentina	Cohort	6 months, last	10	60.6 ± 6.82; Postmenopausal	6.0 J/cm2	2 sessions, 1 months	Improvement in epithelial thickness. Significant improvement in glycogen load, new papillae and neo‐angiogenesis in lamina propria with capillaries reaching the epithelium	No SAE

General characteristics, findings, and adverse events in included studies. The table is sorted by (1) treatment indication, (2) LASER type, (3) year of publication and (4) author name.

Abbreviations: cm², square centimeter(s); CO₂, Carbon Dioxide LASER; Er:YAG, Erbium:Yttrium‐Aluminum‐Garnet LASER; GSM, genitourinary syndrome of menopause; J, joule; mJ, milijoule; N/A, not available or not applicable; SAE, severe adverse event(s); UI, urinary incontinence; VVA, vulvovaginal atrophy; W, watt.

^a Follow‐up is reported as time from initial treatment session (first) or final treatment session (last).

^b Age is reported in mean ± SD unless otherwise specified.