Treatment of spider veins, broken veins, vascular blemishes, red nose, rosacea, angiomas, hemangiomas, angiokeratomas , red scars, red stretch marks, cherry angiomas, poikiloderma, vascular birthmarks

The Pulsed Dye Laser

The Montreal Institute for Skin Laser Surgery offers to patients the latest state of the art laser system to treat a variety of vascular conditions. We now use the very latest model of Pulsed Dye Laser

•   Possibility of treating facial redness and vessels without bruising, no down time
•   Minimal pain (each laser pulse feels like a small snap from a rubber elastic band)
•   More versatile to treat a variety of vascular lesions
•   Possibility of treating small varicose veins on the legs of less than 1 mm (we offer sclerotherapy to treat larger varicose veins)
•   New indication: treatment of wrinkles and superficial acne scars (non ablative skin resurfacing)

The previous versions of the V-Beam laser has treated thousands of patients in a safe and effective manner during many years, but several patients were reluctant to be treated with the older laser versions because of the bruising resulting from the treatments, lasting about two weeks. The new laser system allows treatments with much less chance of  bruising and immediate return to work. There is now no need to interrupt normal social activities following this treatment.

Telangiectasias are commonly called facial “spider veins”, or “broken veins”. They are small and permanently dilated blood vessels of the skin. They can be seen as fine red lines ,sometimes isolated, sometimes forming a “web”, sometimes as a red point with vessels radiating from the center like the legs around a spider's body. When they are very small and abundant they appear as a diffuse redness. They are usually found in the facial area, but also the neck, upper body but may be present elsewhere.

Heredity, alcohol, prolonged exposure to extremes in temperature, sun exposure, (ultraviolet light), sun tan parlors, certain dermatologic problems such as rosacea , and the use of certain medical creams containing cortisone, may all play a role.

How can telangiectasia affect you ?

•   Need to wear heavy makeup.
•   People with red noses or red faces are commonly mistaken for alcoholics.
•   You may look older than you are with “red sun burnt skin”.
•   Facial redness may attract unwanted stares.
•   Loss of self-esteem with friends, family, employer or the general public.
•   May cause embarrassment when wearing certain clothes revealing redness of the neck or upper chest.
•   Children may be teased in school.
•   For mild cases telangiectasia are more of a cosmetic nuisance for people who take pride in their appearance.
•   In more severe cases , telangiectasia may be the source of prejudice, discrimination, derision, contempt, and  interfere with career advancement or social life.

clown with red nose

Pulsed dye laser technology  has been around for more than 12 years and was originally invented to treat red birthmarks in newborn babies. Clinical documentation of its safety and efficacy has been clearly established by numerous clinical studies and by the treatment of thousands of patients around the world. It is a well established , safe,  effective, almost painless way of treating telangiectasia. It produces energy in the yellow spectrum of visible light. This energy is almost totally absorbed by hemoglobin contained in the abnormal dilated blood vessels under the skin, causing their destruction. A short cold spray reduces the temperature of the epidermis a fraction of a second before each laser pulse in order to reduce the risk of epidermal damage. It is said to be photo selective because laser energy does not affect normal surrounding skin tissue. It is also pulsed which means that the exposure time of each laser pulse is too short for heat to build up in the treated area in order to avoid causing a burn.

Laser treatment veins or blemishes


These properties have important clinical implications. First, the treatment is really not painful. It is easy to treat an entire red face in an adult without any anesthesia!  The laser is also extremely safe and this important because it can also be used to treat  newborn babies with a vascular birthmarks  without leaving any scars. There is a high success rate and a low recurrence rate.

Skin problems treatable by Candela Pulsed Dye Laser

Since its invention in 1996 the Candela Pulsed Dye Laser has proven its efficacy in dermatologic surgery for treating a variety of common skin problems such as: angiomas, hemangiomas, vascular birthmarks, port wine stains, ruby angiomas, cherry angiomas, angiokeratomas, pyogenic granulomas, Poikiloderma of Civatte, pink stretch marks, erythemas, venous lakes, leg veins too small for injecting, and a variety of  other vascular problems.

Recent clinical reports show pulsed dye laser may also improve moderate severity acne.
It is often used with photodynamic therapy for acne.
It is often very effective to treat red scars, including red acne scars.


An important use is for the treatment of thick pink hypertrophic scars,  or scars caused by surgery or burns or trauma and other problems such as vulvodynia (chronic burning vulvar pain) and others.

  
Skin remodeling: Scars, wrinkles and stretch marks

The pulsed dye laser has demonstrated clinical benefits in the improvement of various scars by reducing their redness and improving skin texture. The improvement is not as predictable as with telangiectasia, but experience with similar clinical cases make it a useful therapeutic tool. It appears laser can regulate the excessive formation of collagen, perhaps through a vascular mechanism, when treating hypertrophic scars.

In the case of wrinkles and superficial acne scars, the laser energy may stimulate the formation of new collagen through a mechanism of thermal biostimulation of the dermis or direct effect on skin fibroblasts. Several studies report clinical improvement in patients and chemical analysis of treated skin demonstrated an increase in the precursor molecules of collagen.  In simple terms, it appears we may heat gently the deep layers of the skin, without burning the surface, to produce new collagen and increase skin tone to improve the above mentioned conditions.

This procedure is now known as non-ablative skin resurfacing.

However, if patients can tolerate two weeks of down time, the Erbium laser may offer greater potential for improving wrinkles and scars .