Treatment of facial port‐wine stains with intense pulsed light: a prospective study

Abstract

Intense pulsed light (IPL) has been used for the treatment of port-wine stains for 10 years. There are many IPL systems that have different setting. Some of them have been reported in the treatment of fresh or laser-resistant port-wine stains localized in different body regions. Our aim was to conduct a prospective trial to assess the effectiveness of Lynton (The Lumina Family of Medical Flashlamp Systems) of the IPL family in the treatment of fresh facial port-wine stains. Twelve patients with facial and/or neck port-wine stains without previous treatment were enrolled in the trial. Patient demographics, treatment setting, outcome of clearing, and treatment complications were noted. The treatment intervals were 4 to 6 weeks for three to six treatment sessions. Moderate improvement (50-75%) was achieved in 47% of the patients. Complete clearing was seen in only one patient (8.3%) after four treatment sessions. Hypertrophic scar formation in two patients occurred after healing blister. Except for the side effects, long-term complications were not seen. Moderate effectiveness was achieved with IPL treatment in the facial port-wine stains.