Recent developments in dermatological lasers

Study findings that burning-hair plume during laser hair removal contained carcinogens and environmental toxins was among the recent developments in dermatological lasers reported on Healio.com/Dermatology.

Other developments included findings that long-pulsed alexandrite laser with a fractional hand piece produced moderately effective results in treating women with melasma:

Laser hair removal plume could contain high levels of toxins

Burning-hair plume during laser hair removal contained carcinogens and environmental toxins, and could be considered a biohazard, according to recently published study results in JAMA Dermatology.

Discarded terminal hairs were treated with a laser after being sealed in glass gas chromatography chambers, with two pulses delivered through the clear glass with either an 810-nm diode laser (Light-Sheer, Lumenis) or 755-nm alexandrite laser (Gentlelase, Candela). Read more

Long-pulsed alexandrite laser moderately effective in treating melasma

Long-pulsed alexandrite laser with a fractional hand piece produced moderately effective results in treating women with melasma, according to recently published study results.

Researchers studied 48 Korean women with melasma (mean age, 44.1 years) who were treated with two to four sessions of fractional, 755-nm long-pulsed alexandrite laser (Noblex, FineMEC) with 2- to 3-week intervals. Read more

Endovenous laser combined with other procedures effective treatment of chronic venous ulcers

Endovenous laser ablation using a 1,320-nm laser along with foam sclerotherapy and phlebectomy as appropriate was effective at treating chronic venous ulcers, according to recently published study results.

Ashley Wysong, MD, MS, of the department of dermatology, Keck School of Medicine of University of Southern California, Los Angeles, and colleagues studied a prospective database of all patients at a single comprehensive vein clinic presenting between March 2007 to May 2014 with active venous ulcers at time of consolation. Read more

Ablative fractional laser with topical fluorouracil effective for some nonmelanoma skin cancers

A noninvasive treatment with ablative fractional laser–assisted topical ﬂuorouracil was effective for superficial basal cell carcinoma and primary squamous cell carcinoma in situ, according to recent study data.

“The effectiveness of topical ﬂuorouracil in treating [superficial basal cell carcinoma (BCC)] and [squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) in situ] in nonresearch settings is variable,” Sarah H. Hsu, MD, from the department of dermatology at Boston Medical Center and colleagues wrote. “The long-term outcomes remain unknown… to improve the clinical effectiveness of topical fluorouracil.” Read more

Merz acquires medical device company with focus on tattoo removal

Merz North America announced it has acquired ON Light Sciences, a U.S. medical device company that develops technologies to enhance laser-based dermatologic procedures, including the DeScribe Transparent PFD Patch for laser tattoo removal.

The DeScribe Transparent PFD (perfluorodcalin) Patch, has been FDA 510(k) cleared and CE marked, according to a press release from Merz. It is placed over tattoos prior to irradiation, enabling rapid multiple laser passes in a single treatment session. Read more