A comparative study of pulsed dye laser versus long pulsed Nd:YAG laser treatment in recalcitrant viral warts.

BACKGROUND

Viral warts are common infectious skin disease induced by human papillomavirus (HPV). But the treatment of recalcitrant warts is still challenging.

OBJECTIVE

In this study, we compared the effectiveness of pulsed dye laser (PDL) and long pulsed Nd:YAG (LPNY) laser in the treatment of recalcitrant viral warts.

METHODS

We retrospectively analyzed the medical records of patients with recalcitrant warts treated with laser therapy between January 2013 and February 2016.

RESULTS

Seventy-two patients with recalcitrant warts were evaluated. Thirty-nine patients were treated with pulsed dye laser and thirty-three patients were treated with LPNY laser. The following parameters were used: PDL (spot size, 7 mm; pulse duration, 1.5 ms; and fluence, 10-14 J/cm2) and LPNY (spot size, 5 mm; pulse duration, 20 ms; and fluence, 240-300 J/cm2). Complete clearance of two patients (5.1%) in PDL group, and three patients (9.1%) in LPNY group were observed without significant side effects. The patients who achieved at least 50% improvement from baseline were 20 (51.3%) in PDL and 22 (66.7%) in LPNY, respectively.

CONCLUSION

This research is meaningful because we compared the effectiveness of the PDL and LPNY in the recalcitrant warts. Both PDL and LPNY laser could be used as a safe and alternative treatment for recalcitrant warts.