Intense pulsed light treatment of 1,000 consecutive patients with facial vascular marks.
BACKGROUND
Facial teleangectasias or vascular marks often represent a very cosmetically detracting problem for the affected patient, who tries to cover the lesions by camouflage strategies. This study describes the response of these vascular lesions after an intense pulsed light source was used on 1,000 consecutive patients.


METHODS
Between October 1998 and April 2005, 1,000 consecutive patients with various skin types (Fitzpatrick I to IV) were treated with Photoderm VL. The average age of the patients was 47.1 years. These patients were subjected to a mean of 2.16 treatments (range, 1-9), then followed up 48 h, 72 h, 1 week, 3 weeks, and 1 month after each treatment. All the patients were followed up 2 months after the last treatment, and the percentage of clearance was assessed by comparison of pre- and posttreatment photographs. The patients also answered a questionnaire in which they expressed personal satisfaction. The final physicians-nurse evaluation also was recorded on the same form.


RESULTS
Most of the patients (89.70%) experienced a clearance of 75% to 100%. The results appear to be correlated with operator experience, but not with lesion size, age, or skin type. Minimal adverse side effects occurred for 14.6% of the patients, but only for 6.76% of the treatments.


CONCLUSIONS
The intense pulsed light source Photoderm VL can be considered a fast, safe, and effective treatment for facial teleangectasias or vascular marks.
Matteo Tretti Clementoni, Patrizia Gilardino, Gabriele F. Muti, Massimo Signorini, Milano, Italy. mtretti@tin.it mtretti@ide.it
Matteo Tretti
MT
Clementoni
Patrizia
P
Gilardino
Gabriele F
GF
Muti
Massimo
M
Signorini
Antonio
A
Pistorale
Paolo G
PG
Morselli
Carlo
C
Cavina
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002196:Capillaries; D002648:Child; D005145:Face; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D053685:Laser Therapy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012882:Skin Tests; D013684:Telangiectasis / Q000628:therapy*