Advances in Laser Treatment for Infant Port Wine Stains and Other Dermatologic Conditions

Conclusions

• Starting pulsed dye laser treatment very early in infancy can produce substantially better port-wine stain clearance than is typically seen in older patients, often without general anesthesia.
• Weekly or even more frequent early infant treatments can accelerate improvement, shorten time to near-total or complete clearance, and still remain well tolerated.
• Infants appear less prone to post-laser purpura, making early infancy a useful window for safe high-effect laser treatment.
• Newer laser platforms with larger spot sizes, higher energy, and dynamic pre- and post-cooling improve efficiency, comfort, and procedural safety.
• Treating additional areas such as the eyebrows at lower fluence may reduce the risk of hair loss while extending the benefits of early laser therapy.
• Combining conventional pulsed dye laser with focal point laser technology may help resistant or hypertrophic port-wine stains respond when standard treatment has failed.
• Laser coring or drilling with an erbium fiber laser can facilitate minimally scarring removal of osteoma cutis lesions that were previously difficult to excise.
• A new non-opioid oral analgesic, suzetrigine, appears to provide effective peri-procedural pain control and may reduce reliance on opioid medications.