title: Immediate skin responses to laser and light treatments: Warning endpoints: How to avoid side effects.
abstract: Lasers are versatile, commonly used treatment tools in dermatology. While it is tempting to follow manufacturer's guidelines or other "recipes" for laser treatment, this approach alone can be a recipe for disaster. Specific and immediate skin responses or endpoints exist and are clinically useful because they correlate with underlying mechanisms that are either desirable (ie, therapeutic), undesirable (ie, warning signs of injury or side effects), or incidental. The observation of clinical endpoints is a safe and reliable guide for appropriate treatment. This article presents the warning endpoints during specific dermatologic laser treatments, and the accompanying article presents the therapeutic endpoints, their underlying mechanisms, and the utility of these endpoints.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts. Electronic address: mwanner@partners.org.
authors.forename: Molly
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wanner
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts; Wellman Center for Photomedicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Fernanda H
authors.initials: FH
authors.lastname: Sakamoto
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts; Wellman Center for Photomedicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Mathew M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Avram
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts; Wellman Center for Photomedicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: R Rox
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Anderson
mesh_terms: D004502:Education, Medical, Continuing; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D028022:Low-Level Light Therapy / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D061214:Patient Safety / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010789:Phototherapy / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000379:methods; D011322:Primary Prevention / Q000379:methods*; D011379:Prognosis; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012871:Skin Diseases / Q000209:etiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D016896:Treatment Outcome
keywords: adverse effects; endpoint; laser; light; skin; warning