RESULTS

 

Demographic information

Among 16 enrolled patients, two patients dropped out for personal reasons unrelated to the treatment. The remaining 14patients completed this study. Patients’ age ranged from 16 to 62 years(mean, 45.4 years). Subtypes of vascular disorders were facial telangiectasia, rosacea, port wine stain, hemangioma, cherry angioma, and acne erythema. Detailed demographic information is provided in <Table 1>.

 

Physician global assessment(PGA)

Seven of 14 patients(50%) showed excellent improvement, six patients(42.9%) showed good improvement, and one patient(7.1%) showed moderate improvement. The average PGA score was 2.43(Table 1, Figs 1, 2).

 

<Table 1>

 

<Figure 1>

 

<Figure 2>

 

Patients’ satisfaction with the treatment

Patients were generally satisfied with the cosmetic outcomes of their treatment. Mean score was 4.0, and 10 of 14 patients stated that they were ‘very satisfied’ or ‘satisfied’ with their appearance. The boxes of ‘somewhat satisfied’ and ‘little satisfied’ were checked by one of the patients who experienced adverse effects.

 

Adverse effects

The most common side effects were erythema and vesicles in four of 14 patients(28.6%). Among these four patients, two reported mild post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation on the side that they received long-pulsed Nd:YAG Laser treatment. However, those cutaneous reactions showed improvement without scarring(Fig 3). No unbearable pain was noted in this study, and all patients tolerated the treatment well.

 

<Figure 3>

 

HELIOSⅡ/LOTUSⅡ/HYPERION – Manufacturer: LASEROPTEK(www.laseroptek.com)

 

DISCUSSION

There is a clear demand for Laser treatment of various vascular lesions, but there are still challenges when using Laser energy in a therapeutic context. PDL and IPL are used to treat superficial vascular lesions, but are not ideal for treating deeper lesions.3 With the advent of Lasers with longer pulse durations and wavelengths than those used for PDL and IPL, deeper and larger caliber vessels can be managed more effectively without frequent treatment sessions and side effects. Long-pulsed Nd:YAG Laser treatment of deeper vessels has been shown to be effective; however, the long-term effects of this Laser treatment have not been evaluated.4 In this study, we demonstrated that diverse vascular lesions responded favorably to long-pulsed Nd:YAG Laser therapy. 

 

-To be continued