Pediatric patients benefit from laser treatments

Lasers can be used in novel ways to treat skin conditions such as port wine stains, unwanted eyeliner tattoos and bruising, according to an expert who spoke Thursday at the 2014 Annual Meeting of the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery.

READ: More coverage of the ASDS 2014 Annual Meeting

Patients with modular port wine stains can be successfully treated with the 1064 nm high-peak-power YAG laser, says Roy G. Geronemus, M.D., director of Laser & Skin Surgery Center of New York and past president of the ASDS. Pulsed dye lasers can also be used, he says.

Pediatric patients in particular can benefit from laser treatments for port wine stains. “You can change a child’s life,” Dr. Geronemus says. “The word needs to get out to get these children treated right away.”

Venous malformations can be easily treated with the KTP laser, he says, while pulsed dye lasers and other lasers are appropriate for bruises from trauma, surgery and filler treatments.

Tattoos are another prime area for laser treatments. However, Dr. Geronemus cautions that traumatic tattoos from explosive devices may produce mini-explosions when treated with lasers. While they’re not dangerous for physicians, they can be “exquisitely painful,” he says.

Lasers can even eliminate the signs of unwanted eyeliner and lipliner tattoos. “Usually you can see significant improvement in one or two sessions,” he says, but it’s important to protect the eye and eyelashes when treating eyeliner tattoos.