BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES The average success rate in achieving total blanching of port wine stain (PWS) lesions treated with laser-induced selective photothermolysis is below 25%, even after multiple treatments. This is because smaller diameter (5-20 microm) PWS blood vessels are difficult to destroy with selective photothermolysis since the volumetric heat generated by absorption of laser lig...

Pulsed photo-thermal radiometry (PPTR) is a non-invasive, non-contact diagnostic technique used to locate cutaneous chromophores such as melanin (epidermis) and hemoglobin (vascular structures). Clinical utility of PPTR is limited because it typically requires trained user intervention to regularize the inversion solution. Herein, the feasibility of automated regularization was studied. A secon...

The earliest studies on the laser treatment of vascular disorders were on port wine stains (PWS) and published in the 1970s using both the argon and ruby lasers (Table 2.1). Most work was undertaken with the argon laser. In the 1980s this was the most frequently used laser worldwide for the treatment of PWS. The argon laser emits light at six different wavelengths in the blue green portion of t...

We report phakomatosis pigmentovascularis (PPV) detected in a 40- year-old male characterized by the presence of a port-wine stain in the background of aberrant Mongolian spots covering the back, nevus of Ota, ocular melanosis, epidermal nevus and a scaly patch with the diagnosis of discoid lupus erytematosus. These associations have not been reported yet.

An eighteen-year old man is reported who had a large nevus spilus on the right side of his body with port wine stain on the anterior and posterior sides of his trunk without any systemic involvement. Considering the clinical signs and skin biopsy report of the patient, the diagnosis of phakomatosis pigmentovascularis type IIIa was made.

Cryogen spray cooling (CSC) is a heat extraction process that protects the epidermal layer during skin laser surgery of port wine stain (PWS) birthmarks and other specific dermatoses. The objective of the present work is to investigate temporal and radial variations on the heat transferred at the surface of a skin model during CSC. A fast-response thermal sensor is used to measure temperature a...

Port wine stains (PWS) are the most common vascular malformation of the skin, occurring in 0.3% to 0.5% of the population. Noninvasive laser irradiation with flashlamp-pumped pulsed dye lasers (selective photothermolysis) currently comprises the gold standard treatment of PWS; however, the majority of PWS fail to clear completely after selective photothermolysis. In this review, the clinically ...

Port wine stain of Sturge-Weber syndrome represents a cosmetic prejudice with social consequences. We have treated eight patients with a 585 nm pulsed dye laser. According to our experience, the treatment is not risky provided that adequate care is taken; the cosmetic result on the V1 port wine stain component is satisfactory.