Treatment of vascular abnormalities with a long-pulse diode at 980 nm.

Background: Lasers have been used to treat a variety of vascular abnormalities for over 20 years. For minor vascular targets, a small and friendly diode laser with cooling handpiece appears to be a challenger to other systems.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to compile treatment data and to examine the effectiveness of a longer pulse duration diode laser in the treatment of vascular pathologies such as facial telangiectasia, venous lakes, spider nevi, blue telangiectasia, leg veins and dermatological treatments.

Subjects And Methods: Thirty patients were treated with the diode laser with a pulse of 150 ms, energy densities of 300-500 J/cm(2) and wavelength at 980 nm. Patients were treated with a surface cooling device. Clinical evaluations were categorized into improvements of 0-25%, 25-50%, 50-75% and greater than 75%.

Results: 60% of the patients have up to 50% improvement. The maximum clearance was obtained with only one treatment. However even the cooling system is performed +5 degrees C, pain was relatively high for a majority of patients.

Conclusions: The long-pulse diode laser at 980 nm is effective for treating a wide variety of small vascular abnormalities, for deep and thick vascular lesions and leg veins. The surface cooling device is useful for epidermal protection and pain-free treatment.