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Improvement in port-wine stains seen with 595-nm pulsed dye laser

Patients with flat and hypertrophic port-wine stains showed significant improvement after multiple treatments with a 595-nm pulsed dye laser, according to recent research.

Sujay Khandpur, MBBS, MD, DNB, MNAMS, from the department of dermatology and venereology at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi, India, and colleagues analyzed 74 flat and 24 hypertrophic port-wine stains, ranging in color from pink to purple, in patients with skin types IV and V. The flat port-wine stains had a median legion size of 56 cm² and the hypertrophic port-wine stains had a median legion size of 102 cm².

Patients were treated with a 595-nm pulsed dye laser. Those with flat port-wine stains underwent a mean 7.3 treatment sessions and those with hypertrophic port-wine stains had a mean 8.5 sessions. Improvement was graded using the Investigator Global Assessment and Patient Global Assessment scales.

The researchers found a mean lightening of 54% in the flat port-wine stains and mean lightening of 40% in the hypertrophic port-wine stains. There was more than 75% lightening after 10 treatments in 46.6% of patients with flat port-wine stains, and in 12.5% of patients with hypertrophic port-wine stains.

Another 46.6% of patients with flat port-wine stains demonstrated 25% to 75% improvement after 10 treatments, as did 75% of patients with hypertrophic port-wine stains.

The researchers noted no significant side effects in either group.

“Intervention at an early age, proper selection of [port-wine stains] by including small, red- or pink-colored, and flat [port-wine stains] only for [pulsed dye laser] monotherapy and combination treatment with different laser systems for hypertrophic [port-wine stains] may improve the results,” – by Jeff Craven

Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.