Background
Facial vascular lesions are often disfiguring. Potassium titanyl phosphate (KTP) laser is an appropriate vascular-selective therapy. This prospective study was conducted in Mosul, Iraq, and intended to evaluate KTP laser in treating such lesions.
Patients and methods
The study involved infantile hemangioma smaller than 3 cm, port-wine stain (PWS), and telangiectasia in light-skin patients. Pretherapy pictures were taken. KTP laser (532 nm wavelength) with 1-mm spot size was used in multiple sessions under local or general anesthesia (for adults and children, respectively). Ice cubes were used for cooling. The immediate clinical endpoint in telangiectasia was blood vessels clearance. Post-therapy photographs were evaluated and improvement graded from poor to excellent.
Results
There were 27 patients (21 females) aged 7 months–50 years, with a mean of 15.2±14.3 years. There were 15 (55.6%) PWSs, eight (29.6%) hemangiomas, and four (14.8%) telangiectasias. All hemangiomas were infantile. PWS, on the contrary, occurred in an age range of 3–36 years. Patients with telangiectasia were 11–50 years old. Near half of PWSs were in the maxillary region. The nose was a common site for both hemangioma (=3) and telangiectasia (=3). PWS had more treatment sessions (6.6) compared with hemangioma (4.25) and telangiectasia (4). Overall, 55.6% of patients had good to excellent results. The best results were obtained in telangiectasia and hemangioma. There were few transient complications, and the commonest was blistering (=22, 82%).
Conclusion
KTP laser is an effective safe therapy for facial telangiectasia and hemangioma but is less satisfactory in PWS.