Successful treatment of pilonidal disease by intense pulsed light device.

BACKGROUND Pilonidal disease is foreign body reactions accompanied by chronic inflammation that most commonly arises in the hair follicles of the natal cleft or other hair-bearing areas. Today, surgical intervention remains the treatment of choice. But surgical treatment is an invasive method with a high failure rate and recurrence. OBJECTIVES The authors' objective was to assess the efficacy of intense pulsed light (IPL) device on pilonidal disease. MATERIAL AND METHODS This case series study was carried out between 2008 and 2012 on patients with pilonidal sinus in Qazvin university of Iran. All patients received 6 session treatments with IPL hair removal with 4-6 weeks interval until most of the hair was removed. This was repeated 2.5 ± 0.3 years after treatment. In cases with acute phase pilonidal sinus histopathological examination was done. RESULTS IPL hair removal procedure was performed on 30 patients with their ages ranging from 16 to 41 years, with a mean (SD) of 23.1 (6.2) years. In this study 13 patients were presented with acute and 6 patients were presented with chronic phase. 11 patients had a positive history of one surgical treatment and presented recurrences. The overall recurrence rate after IPL treatment in this study was seen in 4 (13.3%) patients. The histopathological examination of our study showed that the hair fragments create a foreign body type granulomatous inflammatory reaction. This process could be triggering factor of the disease. CONCLUSIONS IPL hair removal in affected area could be an alternative treatment to surgery or a choice treatment post surgery to decrease recurrence rate.