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Pigmentation‐dependent side effects to copper vapor laser and argon laser treatment
Author(s) -
Hædersdal Merete,
Wulf Hans Christian
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
lasers in surgery and medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.888
H-Index - 112
eISSN - 1096-9101
pISSN - 0196-8092
DOI - 10.1002/lsm.1900160406
Subject(s) - copper vapor laser , laser , laser treatment , melanin , dermatology , argon , limiting , medicine , materials science , chemistry , optics , mechanical engineering , biochemistry , physics , organic chemistry , engineering
Abstract Background and Objective: Melanin is a limiting factor for obtaining beneficial results in dermatological treatment of vascular malformations. The aim of our study was to establish a relation between pretreatment skin pigmentation and the occurrence of side effects. Study Design/Materials and Methods: Thirteen human volunters selected to have a varying degree of skin pigmentation were laser‐treated on the inside of the brachium with an argon laser (AL, 488 nm and 514.5 nm) and a copper vapor laser (CVL, 578 nm), both connected to a Hexascan. Total exposure areas were 1.26 cm 2 and beam diameters were 1 mm. Three intensities were used, 0.7, 1.0, and 1.3 W. Pulse duration was 200 ms, resulting in fluences of 17.8, 25.5, and 33.1 J/cm 2 . Pretreatment skin pigmentation was objectified by skin reflectance measurements. Results: At 1, 2, and 6 months after laser treatment, significant correlations were demonstrated between pretreatment skin pigmentation and laser‐induced pigmentary changes and scar formation. At the 6‐month assessment, the AL induced significantly higher scores of clinically evaluated scar formation as compared with the CVL (1.0 and 1.3 W/spot) and tended to induce higher clinical scores of pigmentary changes (not significant, ns). Conclusions: We recommend skin pigmentation to be taken into consideration in dermatological laser treatment of vascular malformations. © 1995 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.