a therapeutic experience on port wine hemangiomas with argon laser

port wine stains are benign but cosmetically devasting congenital angiomas. the argon laser is a therapeutic device newly applied to this condition. our program was begun 6 years ago. from the beginning, the study was conceived as a clinical investigation of both the port wine stain and its argon laser therapy. a total of 218 patients with port wine stains have been studied and many aspects of their clinical condition detailed. employing the argon laser, test spots have been carried out in patients and the results have been analyzed with clinical aspects of the lesions. altogether, 501 treatments were performed in 218 patients. good to excellent results were obtained in 81 patients. moderate result was obtained in 31 weak result in 65 patients. most common complication were hyperpigmentation and depressed scar.