Treatment of Port-Wine Stains with the 585-nm Flashlamp-Pulsed Tunable Dye Laser: A Study of 74 Patients

Abstract

Over 20 months, we have treated 74 patients (59 children less than 12 years of age) with port-wine stains (PWS) using a 585-nm flashlamp-pulsed dye laser (SPTL-1, Candela Corp., Wayland, Mass., USA) after topical anesthesia with Emla^TM cream. A 5-point reference color scale was used to evaluate the results. 45 patients had at least one treatment on the entire surface of the lesion. A mean of 88 impacts per session was delivered. There was a significant decrease in color in around two thirds of the cases after one complete treatment with a gradual tendency to improvement after subsequent treatments. Younger age at the beginning of treatment was not found to be predictive of a better outcome after the first treatment. In around one third of the cases, positive test site treatment was not correlated with significant improvement after one treatment. Lesions situated on the limbs were less responsive than those on the head and neck. Except for problems due to absence of general anesthesia in young children enduring repeated stressful and sometimes painful procedures, the overall impression is that early treatment of PWS is possible with very limited risks of scarring using this technique.

Treatment of venous malformations with an intense pulsed light source (IPLS) technology: A retrospective study

“…Although transitory adverse effects were rare in the Goldman/Eckhouse study [16] (blisters 2%, crusting 0.4%, hypopigmentation 3%, hyperpigmentation 4%), Green [44] observed a higher incidence of blisters (42%), hypopigmentation (20%), hyperpigmentation (50%) and scarring (21% vs. 0.5% in Goldman/Eckhouse study) using IPLS for treatment of leg telangiectases. In comparison, FLPDL caused post-purpura pig- mentation reported at a frequency of 9 to 57% [9,34,[45][46][47][48] and post-inflammatory hypopigmentation in 2% to 10% [34,47,[49][50][51]. The success rate with venous malformations, combined with a relatively low incidence of side effects, makes IPLS a useful alternative for adjunctive or primary treatment of venous malformations.…”

Treatment of Port-wine Stains With a Noncoherent Pulsed Light Source

“…24,25 In the treatment of PWSs, FLPDL caused comparatively frequent postinflammatory hyperpigmentation reported at a frequency of 9% to 57 % 5,6,32,35,[46][47][48] and postinflammatory hypopigmentation in 2% to 10 %. 3,4,6,16,46 Hyperpigmentation and hypopigmentation were also the most common transient side effects of the long-pulsed FLPDL treatment of leg veins. 17,18 The success rate with PWSs, particularly with FLPDL-resistant dark types, combined with a relatively low incidence of side effects, makes IPLS a useful alternative for adjunctive or primary treatment of PWSs.…”

Epiluminescence Microscopy for Port-Wine Stains: Pretreatment Evaluation

“…Several prognostic criteria have been put forward to assist in predicting treatment outcome, as PWS color, patient’s age and PWS site [2, 9, 10]. However, it is clear that it is necessary to know in advance the characteristics of the vascular pattern, such as the vessel depth, the vessel diameter and the thickness of the vessel wall.…”