Treatment of periorbital syringoma by the pinhole method using a carbon dioxide laser in 29 Asian patients.

BACKGROUND

Pinhole method has been used to treat various types of scars and dermal tumors by making multiple small holes in target tissues of the deep dermis using an ablative 10,600-nm carbon dioxide (CO2) laser.

OBJECTIVES

We prospectively investigated the efficacy and safety of using a CO2 laser to treat periorbital syringomas via the pinhole method.

METHODS

A total of 29 patients with periorbital syringomas were treated with two sessions of CO2 laser treatment using the pinhole method at two-month intervals. Laser fluences were delivered under the following settings: pulse duration of 200 μs, frequency of 50 Hz, on time of 0.04, and an off time of 0.01.

RESULTS

Among the 29 patients, 13 patients (44.8%) presented with small discrete papular syringomas, 10 (34.5%) had plaque-type lesions, and six (20.7%) had mixed lesions. Evaluation of the clinical results at 2 months after the second treatment session revealed marked clinical improvement (51-75%) in 10 of the 29 patients (34.5%), moderate clinical improvement (26-50%) in eight (27.6%), near-total improvement (≥ 75%) in seven (24.1%), and minimal improvement (0-25%) in four patients (13.8%).

CONCLUSIONS

Our observations indicated that application of the pinhole method using a CO2 laser exerts positive therapeutic effects in Asian patients with periorbital syringomas.