Superficial Hemangioma: Pulsed Dye Laser Versus Wait-and-See

Abstract

Pulsed dye laser is only to be considered as an alternative treatment up to the age of 6 months, at which time parents and physicians consider cosmetic outcome to be a relevant factor, but laser therapy plays a major role in the treatment of residual lesions at older ages.

Clinical efficacy of the 595 nm pulsed dye laser in the treatment of childhood superficial hemangioma – analysis of 10-year application in Chinese patients

“…Recently, PDL has been used in the treatment of SH. Our result and other reviews discussing the pros and contras of early laser treatment of hemangioma confirmed that in the treatment of SH, the 595 nm PDL is the treatment of excellent choice (15). SH may be treated safely and effectively with the PDL in the early days of life due to accelerated remission and resolution.…”

Management of infantile hemangiomas: Current trends

“…However, the cosmetic outcome was significantly better in the PDL group. [62] In a comparative study between traditional PDL (585 nm) and long PDL (LPDL; 595 nm), the authors found that a similar number of infants achieved complete clearance or showed minimal residual signs at 1 year of age (14/26, 54% in PDL group vs. 17/26, 65% in LPDL group; P = 0.4), although the infants in LPDL group suffered significantly less side-effects like hypo- or hyperpigmentation, textural changes and the period of maximal proliferation was also significantly shortened (106 days in LPDL versus 177 days in PDL group). [63]…”

Novel Combination Topical Timolol and Pulsed Dye Laser Therapy for Early Effective Safe Treatment of Infantile Hemangiomas

“…Instead of waiting passively for natural regression that may take a long time and even lead to suboptimal cosmetic results and psychosocial distress despite later intervention, the high safety profile of topical timolol and/or PDL presents a splendid opportunity to actively intervene early, safely, and nonsystemically with a higher likelihood of earlier and complete regression [10,12,[27][28][29].…”

“…The 595 nm pulse dye laser (PDL) is another effective treatment for hemangiomas [9][10][11][12]. Patients treated with PDL have evidence of wound healing demonstrable by electron microscopy [13].…”