The role of the Lumina intense pulsed light system in the treatment of port wine stains—a case controlled study

The pulsed dye laser has been the treatment of choice for port wine stains over the past 20 years.

In the past 5 years there has been increasing discussion of the role of other light treatments, such as the intense pulsed light system in the treatment of port wine stains. These systems use high-energy lamps, which emit noncoherent broad-spectrum light. Cut off filters are applied depending on the treatment modality to limit the wavelengths emitted.

We present the results of a 3-year prospective within patient controlled clinical trial using an intense pulsed light system called the Lumina, developed by Lynton Lasers of Cheshire, England.

Our aims and objectives were to assess the effectiveness of the system in the treatment of port wine stains in a human model and to record the optimum treatment parameters and the incidence of side effects.

Following ethical approval 12 subjects were enrolled into the trial. In order to meet the requirements of the local ethics committee these were all adults with port wine stains located in less visible areas of the body.

The results showed that eight of the 12 subjects had some degree of fading of their port wine stain as measured on a percentage scoring system. Of the four who failed to show any response, all had pink port wine stains. It did seem the case that the darker the port wine stain, the better the fading seen. Furthermore, the more distal lesions tended to be less responsive than those situated closer to the head area. However, it is difficult to draw any definitive statistical conclusions due to the small number of patients in the trial.