Warts are a common skin disease caused by infection of the human papilloma virus. Most treatments involving physical destruction of the infected cells, such as cryotherapy and electrocautery, are limited by intense pain, failure, or recurrences. Our aim was to compare the therapeutic effects of a newly developed bleomycin microneedle patch with cryotherapy in the treatment of warts. Forty-two patients with more than two wart lesions were included in the study. The two treatment modalities were randomly applied to different warts on each patient. Treatment efficacy was assessed using the Physician's Global Assessment (PGA) and the Patient's Global Assessment (PaGA). Mean PGA and PaGA scores were not significantly different between cryotherapy and bleomycin microneedle patch treatment. It was also determined that the mean size of all the warts treated with either modality shrank about equally at weeks 8 and 16 after initial treatment. Thus, treatment efficacy of the bleomycin microneedle patch was comparable to that of conventional cryotherapy. According to a visual analogue scale of pain, bleomycin microneedle patch treatment was significantly less painful than cryotherapy (p < .0001). In addition, use of the bleomycin microneedle patch was more tolerable for patients who were reluctant to receive the painful treatment. Thus, the bleomycin microneedle patch can be an effective, convenient, and innovative treatment modality for warts.
Bleomycin-coated microneedles appeared to be a convenient and painless alternative to conventional intralesional injection of bleomycin. The microneedles delivered bleomycin into the targeted dermal layer regardless of body site. Bleomycin-coated microneedles therefore provide a suitable method for the treatment of warts.
A high-fluence 1064-nm Q-switched Nd:YAG laser treatment of CALMs in Asian patients is a safe and effective method without side effects and recurrence.
Various lasers have been used for the treatment of erythematotelangiectatic rosacea (ETR) that does not respond to systemic or topical therapy. The pulsed dye lasers (PDLs) are an effective option for ETR, and the purpuragenic fluence proved to be superior until now. Given that purpura and subsequent possible postinflammatory hyperpigmentation (PIH) are occasionally unbearable in some patients, and several studies using the low nonpurpuragenic fluence were reported. To deliver the sufficient high fluence of a PDL without generating purpura, we designed the fractionation of high fluence using five passes and longer pulse duration (6 milliseconds) of a PDL in succession. A total of eight patients with ETR were enrolled in this study; all patients were treated with PDL 10 times at 2-week intervals. Erythema and telangiectasia scores, as well as improvement, were assessed by two physicians using the digital photographs. Moderate-to-marked improvement was achieved in most of the patients, and erythema and telangiectasia scores were significantly decreased. Purpura and PIH were not reported in all patients. The fractionation of high-fluence, long-pulsed 595 nm PDL is a very safe and effective treatment for ETR.
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