The first-year experience of a university hospital laser unit

Background and Design: The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet (Nd:YAG) laser and intense pulsed light (IPL) systems, and the variety of indications involved. Materials and Methods: First-year treatments in our clinic were evaluated retrospectively. Results were classified according to improvement rates: <25% as mild improvement; 25-75% as moderate improvement and >75% as excellent improvement. Results: One hundred thirty-three patients aged 3-79 years (mean: 35.91) with 14 different indications were treated. Pigmented lesions were treated with IPL, and vascular lesions with IPL and/or Nd:YAG. Combined therapy with IPL and Nd:YAG at two-week intervals resulted in excellent improvement in 70.21% of vascular lesions (34 rosacea, 8 nevus flammeus, and 5 hemangioma), and moderate improvement in the rest. Telangiectasia and angiomatous lesions exhibited excellent improvement in 93.65% of patients with Nd:YAG, and moderate improvement in the rest. IPL resulted in excellent improvement in 78.49% of cases of solar lentigo, and moderate improvement in the rest. Moderate improvement was observed in 66.67% of patients with melasma using IPL, and mild improvement in the rest. Pain scores were significantly lower with Nd:YAG than IPL (p<0.05). Complications related to treatment were observed in 3 patients (vesicles in two patients and atrophic scar in 1), all of which developed after Nd:YAG laser application. Conclusion: Nd:YAG and IPL were successful with very low side-effect rates in a wide range of indications. Our study is the first evaluation of the efficacy of Nd:YAG and IPL combination therapy applied at 2-week intervals, and high efficiency was observed with no increase in any complication rate by intermittently combining different wavelengths.