Enhanced Pulsed Dye Laser for Facial Rejuvenation

To evaluate the efficacy of an enhanced pulsed dye laser (PDL) for treatment of facial-dyschromia.

Thirteen patients were enrolled in the study. Nine patients were female, four were male, with a mean age of 61 years. All patients presented with either facial telangiectasia, rosacea, pigment, or a combination thereof. At the initial evaluation, test spots were performed to determine the subject's response to selected treatment parameters. In the study, the enhanced 595 nm PDL deployed a spot size range of 5-12 mm with fluences ranging from 8 to 18 J/cm² . Pulse duration was 10 milliseconds. Enhancements in this device included the option for contact or cryogen spray cooling, increased maximum pulse energy, increased repetition rate, option for addition of radiofrequency (RF), an option for a 15 mm spot size, and longer dye life. The smaller spots were used only for focal low contrast pigmented lesions that persisted after overall facial treatment with the larger spot. Smaller fluences were applied for general rejuvenation with the 12 mm spot (mean ~9 J/cm² ). Sapphire contact cooling was applied at 10°C. A smaller area of the skin was reserved (typically pre-auricular area) for addition of RF energy just before the pulse (40-70 J/cm³ ) over 100 milliseconds with a 20 milliseconds delay between the end of the RF pulse and beginning of the laser pulse. The minimum fluence that achieved vessel closure/vessel bluing and/or slight immediate pigment darkening was applied based on test spots performed just before treatment to the entire face. Determinations of improvement were made by evaluation of photographs with standard settings using polarized and nonpolarized images. Up to three treatments were performed approximately 1 month apart with follow-up visits 1 and 3 months after the final treatment.

Evaluation by a panel of blind observers determined a mean clearance of at least 50% in all lesions, while 77% of lesions had 50-75% clearance, and 23% of lesions had 76-100% clearance. Pain was approximately 4/10. Subjective lesion improvement and satisfaction rates were 3 out of 4 and 3.6 out 4, respectively.

An enhanced PDL is effective in one pass treatments for facial rejuvenation with considerably less operative time than previous commercially available systems. A second pass applied to focal challenging lesions results in even more improvement, in a single treatment session. Lasers Surg. Med. © 2020 Wiley Periodicals LLC.