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Treatment Modalities for Cherry Angiomas: A Systematic Review
Natalie Buslach1, Delila P Foulad2, Nazanin Saedi3
1Chicago Medical School, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, North Chicago, Illinois.
Insights
Effective treatments for cherry angiomas, including laser and non-laser therapies, are available. While pulsed dye laser (PDL) offers reduced pain, no single treatment is definitively superior for these common vascular lesions.
Area of Science:
- Dermatology
- Vascular Lesions
- Aesthetic Medicine
Background:
- Cherry angiomas are common, benign vascular growths linked to aging.
- Currently, no universally accepted primary treatment exists for these skin lesions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To systematically review evidence-based therapeutic options for cherry angiomas.
- To evaluate the efficacy and comparative outcomes of various treatment modalities.
Main Methods:
- A comprehensive literature search was conducted in May 2019 using PubMed and Cochrane Library.
- Keywords included "cherry angioma," "senile hemangioma," and "Campbell de Morgan spots."
- Ten studies were included in this systematic review.
Main Results:
- Both laser and non-laser therapies demonstrated efficacy in treating cherry angiomas.
- Pulsed dye laser (PDL) was favored for lower pain, while Nd:YAG laser showed fewer pigmentary issues.
- Non-laser options included cryotherapy, sclerotherapy, electrosurgery, and radiofrequency ablation.
Conclusions:
- Multiple therapeutic approaches effectively treat cherry angiomas, including light-based and non-light-based methods.
- A lack of high-quality comparative studies limits definitive conclusions on treatment superiority.
- Further research is needed to establish optimal treatment strategies for cherry angiomas.
Background:
Cherry angiomas are benign vascular proliferations of endothelial cells associated with aging. Currently, no mainstay of treatment for these vascular anomalies exists.
Objective:
To review existing evidence-based therapies for the treatment of cherry angiomas.
Methods:
A literature search in May 2019 was performed with PubMed Database and Cochrane Library using the following terms: "cherry angioma," "senile hemangioma," "senile angioma," "cherry hemangioma," and "Campbell de Morgan spots."
Results:
Ten studies included in this systematic review reported laser therapy and nonlaser therapy as efficacious treatments for cherry angiomas. Among the laser therapies, pulsed dye laser (PDL) was preferred over potassium-titanyl-phosphate (KTP) and electrodessication (ED), based on decreased procedure-related pain. The neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet (Nd:YAG) laser 1064 nm produced less pigmentary complications, whereas KTP and PDL risked pigmentary changes in darker-skinned individuals. Nonlaser therapies included cryotherapy, sclerotherapy, electrosurgery (i.e., ED, electrocoagulation), and radiofrequency ablation. No therapy proved to be superior.
Conclusion:
A variety of therapeutic modalities exist for the treatment of cherry angiomas. However, a limited number of high-quality studies explored the efficacy of treatments and compared treatment modalities. Light-based methods such as argon, KTP, Nd:YAG, intense pulsed light, and PDL, along with non-light-based interventions such as cryotherapy, electrosurgery, and sclerotherapy effectively treated cherry angiomas.
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