Treatment of portwine stains with the flashlamp pumped pulsed dye laser. Five years of clinical experience

Background and Objective. Portwine stains are reported to occur in 2.8% of the newborn. Depending on the location and size, portwine stains can be dis figuring and may lead to psychosocial complications. They can be safely and successfully treated with the flashlamp pumped pulsed dye laser (FPDL). Ou r objectibe was to evaluate retrospectively the efficacy of the FPDL (450 m us, 585 nm, 5 and 7 mm), after fiveyears of clinical experience with this l aser. Patients/Methods. Between 1993-1998 In 961 patients with port-wine stains l aser treatment was performed in the department of dermatology of the univer sity of Regensburg. Results. Total clearance of the portwine stain was recorded in, 6,9% of the patients. In 40,4% of the patients 75 95% clearance and in 38,5% 50-75% cl earance was observed in 14,2% response was less than 50%. Laser therapy was more effective for lesions of the neck and trunk than for lesions on the h ead and extremities. Better results were found after laser therapy of light -red or red portwine stains compared to dark red and violaceus portwine sta ins. In children (less than 3 year old), clearance of more than 75% occurre d significantly more often than in older patients. Conclusions. Since laser treatment in early childhood is, more effective th an treatment at a later aged, a smaller number of treatment sessions is nec essary and lower recurrence rates, can be expected, laser treatment should be started in, early childhood. Side effects were rare after FPDL treatment . This study underlines that the FPDL is a safe and successful treatment fo r portwine stains with rare side effects. But total clearance can only be r eached in a small number of patients.