Pulsed Dye Laser Surgery

A Revolutionary Treatment for Warts
Every year 3.5 million people in the United States are treated for verrucae, or warts. Clinical studies have proven that laser treatment of recalcitrant (resistant) warts is successful when treatment with acids, cryogenics, chemical agents, and surgical excision has failed. In one study, over two-thirds of patients treated had their warts successfully removed in as few as two treatments. There is no open wound and minimal pain following the procedure, so patients can resume their active lifestyles immediately.

How this treatment works
The Pulsed Dye Laser is a device that emits a tiny, but powerful pulse of light that is absorbed by the pigment within the red blood cells of the wart. The light is generated when the lasing medium-a concentrated dye-is stimulated by a flashlamp energy source. This light is then directed at the wart using a pencil-like hand piece. The wart's nutritional blood flow is cut off by the absorption of this light. The laser also obliterates the virus at the base of the membrane.

The Pulsed Dye Laser is the wart treatment choice of many physicians because:

• It affords the physician the opportunity of utilizing a different set of treatments to attempt to reduce and/or remove your wart
• It is safe and effective
• Its unique ability to selectively treat the wart without adversely affecting the surrounding skin.
• It has an overall success rate of approximately 93% and treatment is also relatively painless*
• The pulsed dye laser leaves no open lesions following treatment resulting in little chance of post-treatment infection

Safe and Effective
Studies have shown that there are very few side effects when the pulsed dye laser is used to treat warts. Depending on the size and type of wart, some conditions will respond to the very first treatment. However, most will require additional treatment sessions. The majority of patients are able to return to normal daily activities almost immediately. Many patients are even able to participate in sports the day after treatment for plantar verrucae. This is a tremendous improvement in the area of plantar verrucae, where other treatment methods such as CO2 laser vaporization and excision often resulted in large lesions on the sole of the foot that make walking very painful.

*Source: Dermatologic Surgery, Volume 25 Page, May 1999