Treatment of individual café au lait macules with the Q-switched Nd:YAG: a clinicopathologic correlation.

Abstract

BACKGROUND Café au lait macules (CALMs) respond variably to treatment with lasers. This study was carried out to identify which individual features of CALMs could predict a good clinical response to treatment. METHODS Twenty-two patients aged 3-43 years were treated with the frequency-doubled Q-switched Nd:YAG (10 ns, Ø = 3 mm, 2.0 to 3.0 J/cm2). Biopsy specimens of the CALMs were obtained before treatment in 11 patients to achieve the diagnosis of CALMs. Treatment of CALMs usually requires several laser sessions, so the treatment was carried out at 2-month intervals. Clinical follow-up was done 3 and 12 months after the final treatment to observe results and recurrences. RESULTS The analysis shows that the only statistically significant criteria was the jagged aspects of the edges of the CALMs. Consequently, this criteria should be evaluated in further studies in relation with the laser treatment of CALMs.