The Effect of Flash Lamp—Pulsed Dye Laser on Psoriasis

Abstract

The Informative AbstractTo the Editor.\p=m-\The Informative Abstract1 contained information that was particularly worrisome to me as an editor responsible for the publication of a number of medical journals, namely your assertion that physicians "spend many hours each January reading journals."All previously available data about the reading habits of physicians indicate a fairly even (although low) annual distribution of reading time, punctuated by small decreases in July and September attributable to vacations and the beginning of the new academic year. If your new findings are indeed substantiated, then journal publishing is in trouble.Intuitively, one can find at least one possible (albeit lame) explanation for the eager reading in January: New Year's resolutions gone sour ("This year, as God is my witness, I shall not go uninformed!"). It would be interesting to do a citation study and chart such monthly fluctuations. If January articles are more heavily cited, then you really are on to something. If so, it will really change the face of the medical publish¬ ing industry.

Laser and novel light source treatments for psoriasis

“…In 1992, Hacker and Rasmussen [11] first described the use of the 585 nm pulsed dye laser (PDL) for psoriasis. The PDL has been shown to be effective in a number of vascular lesions such as port-wine stains [12], and since vascularization is observed in the early onset of psoriasis, using the PDL to treat psoriasis seemed a logical alternative.…”

Cellular and molecular effects of pulsed dye laser and local narrow‐band UVB therapy in psoriasis

“…Interference with leukocyte trafficking via a selective destruction of the dilated capillaries may be an effective therapeutic intervention in psoriasis. Selective targeting of blood vessels may be achieved with the flash-lamp pumped pulsed dye laser (PDL) [3]. The effect of the PDL treatment is based on the selective absorption of short pulses of 585 nm light by oxy-hemoglobin inducing photothermolysis of capillaries leaving the other nearby structures in the skin undamaged [4].…”

Efficacy of the pulsed dye laser in the treatment of localized recalcitrant plaque psoriasis: a comparative study

“…Multiple previous studies have shown different results, ranging from complete remission to no improvement at all. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7] It is difficult to compare the results of these studies, because they all used different treatment modalities. The number of treatments varied from only one treatment up to five.…”