Treatment of plane warts with long pulse ND - YAGlaser 532nm.

Abstract

Warts are one of the contagious viral diseases that may cause disturbing cosmetic problems. Plane warts represents a common self-limitingviralinfectionoftheskincausedby the HumanPapilloma Virus,however,those that do not disappear by themselves can be very difficult to treat with no uniformly effective treatment modality. To assess theefficacyof long pulsed 532nm ND:YAG laser in the treatment of plane warts. In thistherapeuticclinical trial study, 34 patients with plane warts were enrolled. Each patient was eligible for up to three treatment sessions administrated at 2weeks intervals with long pulsed ND:YAG laser ata spot size 3mm; wavelength 532nm; pulsed duration 20ms; and fluence 30J/cm2 . The patients were assessed before each treatment session and at 3 months after the last treatment session. Theresponseto treatment was graded using four points scale: Scale 1=poor:<25%, Scale 2=fair: 25%-50%, Scale 3=good: 51%-75%, Scale 4=excellent:>75%. Twenty-two patients only with a total of 478lesions, completed the study; their ages ranged from (6-45) years with a mean±SD 19.95±13.142 years. Thirteen patients (59.09%) were female and nine (40.90%) were male.The results from this study showing that long pulsed ND:YAG laser 532nm led toan excellentresponse in19patients (86.36%) in which 15 of 19 patients showed a complete response (78.94%); one patient showed a good response (4.545%), one showed a fair response (4.545%) and one showed a poor response (4.545%) at the end of three-months follow up. The difference was statistically significant; the P value at the three months follow-upwas 0.002.The cumulative clearance rate after the first, second, and third treatment sessions was 58.4%, 77.7%, and 89.9% respectively.Recurrencewas seen in only one patient (4.545%).Side effects were generally mild and didn't prevent normal activity. Long pulsed ND:YAG laser 532nm appears to be an effective method for treatment of plane warts.