Dermatological lasers: 2000 and beyond. The European Society for Laser Dermatology Fifth Annual Meeting

Geneva and the 9th EADV Congress was the prestigous and stimulating stage for the 5th Annual Meeting of the European Society for Laser Dermatology (ESLD). The importance of our discipline has been once more conŽ rmed by the large number of participants at this event and by the two extremely well-attended core EADV programme courses organized by ESLD: ‘Dermatological Laser 2000: State-of-the-Art’ and ‘Skin Resurfacing’. The excellent organization and the high level of all the presentations brought ESLD and the course directors a great and well deserved success. Maurice Adatto and Denis Salomon were responsible for the ‘State-of-the-Art’ course while Alina Fratila chaired the ‘Skin Resurfacing’ course. For the Ž rst time we were able to offer an interactive video transmission of laser treatments and this extremely useful feature was very well received by the audience. We were also very proud to collaborate with the American Society for Laser Medicine and Surgery (ASLMS) in the spirit of internationalization of scientiŽ c knowledge, which constitutes a fundamental stone of our statutes. The format of the ESLD Annual Meeting, entitled: ‘Dermatological Lasers: 2000 and Beyond’ followed a well tested, traditional sequence of headings. The pigmentspeciŽ c lasers session stimulated a very productive discussion after the exhaustive and elegant presentations offered by Nicholas Lowe, Michael Drosner, Agneta Troilius and Peter Bjerring. Congenital nevi are still considered a mineŽ eld for laser treatments and no ofŽ cially approved experimental treatment protocols have so far been proposed. Although data exist around the world, many physicians using lasers on nevo-melanocytic lesions do not report them. More studies are therefore necessary to Ž nd a deŽ nite answer to this never-ending story. We all agreed about the term ‘hair growth control’ when talking about photo-assisted epilation and the long lasting, virtually complication-free, positive results obtained using long pulse laser systems, and IPLS conŽ rmed the undisputed place of these devices within our treatment armamentarium. Excellent clinical results have been presented on traumatic tattoos, even though multiple sessions are necessary to obtain a good clearing of the extrinsic dermal pigment. Lasers hold a solid position in this particular clinical Ž eld. Reactive pigmentations, on the other hand, seemed to respond unpredictably to laser treatments and clearly better results have been reported using different treatment modalities. The session dedicated to vascular-speciŽ c lasers pointed out again the limitation of laser treatment of acquired lower leg telangiectasias, although more recent technical advances are showing promising short and long-term results. New hope for resistant port wine stains has been brought by the good results reported by Agneta Troilius combining a long pulse 532 nm laser and IPL system. The latest technological achievements of extra-long-pulse dye lasers will certainly contribute to further improve our clinical results. When the time came to discuss surgical lasers all of us remembered the name of a good colleague and friend, Alexis Namias, of Paris, France, who sadly passed away just a few months ago. He was not able to defeat an extremely aggressive disease which took him, his family and all of us by surprise. His enthusiasm and dedication to dermatological surgery and laser surgery was second to none. He was one of the Ž rst to answer the call when we founded ESLD in Trieste, in 1996. He worked hard with me to study and write our statutes and bylaws, and never surrendered to the many difŽ culties we encountered along the way. ESLD was personally registered in Paris by him. All the people who were lucky to know him will take Alexis Namias as an invaluable example of physician and friend. He will always have a special place in our hearts. The ‘Hot Spots’ ended our scientiŽ c meeting with topics that will be debated over the years to come: the issue of second-hand laser and IPL systems, epidermal cooling systems and skin rejuvenation. ESLD has moved even further and is contributing to the foundation of a long-awaited entity: The Federation of the European Dermatological and Surgical Societies (FEDSS), which will serve as an administrative and representative organism for all the superspecialized, dermatologically oriented, scientiŽ c societies co-operating in Europe with EADV. EnailS, ESCAD, ESDS, ESMS and ESLD are the founding partners but others will follow. We are very pleased to be able to present this summary of our meeting in this issue of Journal of Cutaneous Laser Therapy, and are grateful to the publishers, Martin Dunitz Ltd, for their help in making this possible.