GREEN LIGHT IS EFFECTIVE AND LESS PAINFUL THAN RED-LIGHT IN PHOTODYNAMIC THERAPY OF FACIAL SOLAR KERATOSES

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) with topically applied delta-aminolevulinic acid (ALA) is increasingly employed to treat patients with multiple s olar keratoses and superficial skin tumors. For these indications, ALA -PDT has been shown to be highly efficient. Treatment of multiple or e xtended lesions, however, is substantially hampered by the fact that A LA-PDT is associated with burning pain during the irradiation procedur e. The standard irradiation devices commonly used for ALA-PDT emit red light around 630 nm. In the present half-side comparison study we hav e observed that ALA-PDT employing a green light irradiation device (54 3-548 nm) is equally effective, as compared with standard red light AL A-PDT. In contrast to red light ALA-PDT, however, green light ALA-PDT caused only little tingling and burning but no pain. These observation s indicate that green light ALA-PDT is superior to standard ALA-PDT, b ecause it is associated with less unwanted side effects.