AN INTENSE LIGHT-SOURCE - THE PHOTODERM VL-FLASHLAMP AS A NEW TREATMENT POSSIBILITY FOR VASCULAR SKIN-LESIONS

BACKGROUND. Up to now, vascular diseases were treated with various las ers, such as argon, pulsed dye, and copper vapor lasers, which can lea d to side effects like hypopigmentations, hyperpigmentations, and scar ring. We treated patients with vascular lesions with an incoherent int ense light source, the PhotoDerm VL-flashlamp. OBJECTIVE. The aim of t he study was to test the effectiveness and safety of the PhotoDerm VL for vascular skin lesions. METHODS. One hundred and twenty patients wi th facial or leg telangiectasias, spider nevi, erythrosis interfollicu laris, and senile angiomas were treated with the PhotoDerm VL. RESULTS . In 73.6% of patients there was an immediate clearing, and in 84.3% a clearing after 1 month was found of leg telangiectasias up to 1 mm in diameter. Facial telangiectasias and erythrosis interfollicularis col li showed clearance up to 90%. Spider nevi and senile angiomas often o nly needed to be treated once. CONCLUSION. From our experience we conc lude that the PhotoDerm VL is an excellent device to treat vascular le sions as there were hardly any side effects seen, however, the user ne eds a sufficient experience to get good results. (C) 1998 by the Ameri can Society for Dermatologic Surgery, Inc.