Treatment of facial acne with 1450 nm diode laser in Asians

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The 1450-nm diode laser has been shown to be effective for the treatment of inflammatory facial acne but there is significant risk of postlaser hyperpigmentation in Asian skin (up to 39%). This study is to determine the optimal laser and cooling parameters of the 1450-nm diode laser with dynamic cooling (DCD) that improve acne effectively with minimal post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation (PIH) in Asians. METHODS: Twenty-five patients (skin phototypes IV–V) with moderate inflammatory acne received 4 treatments using the 1450-nm diode laser with 6 mm spot size (3–4 week intervals). We used 3 passes with a fluence of 8 J/cm2 with DCD spray duration of 25 ms which was predetermined in a forearm study to minimize PIH. Acne lesion counts and sebum measurement were evaluated by blinded assessment before and after treatment. RESULTS: Mean reduction of inflammatory acne lesions was 19.9% from baseline 4 weeks after the last treatment. (P?0.02) Significant subjective and objective improvements of sebum production were noted. 2 episodes of PIH (4%) were observed out of all treatment sessions. CONCLUSIONS: It has been postulated that excessive cooling using DCD leads to the high risk of PIH in Asian. We found that use of multiple passes of 1450-nm diode laser with lower fluence and shorter DCD spray duration retains its therapeutic efficacy with substantial reduction of PIH.