Burns : journal of the International Society for Burn Injuries
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Pulsed dye laser treatment of burn scars. Alleviation or irritation?
Burn scars are very common in both children and adults, causing great morbidity and often pose a difficult management problem. This study investigated the efficacy of the dye laser in patients with symptomatic burn scars and analysed the impact of the laser treatment on scar redness, surface texture and pruritus. ⋯ The 585 nm flashlamp-pumped pulsed dye laser is an effective treatment for the intense pruritus often experienced during the healing process after a burn injury. This study has not shown other benefits, such as reduction in scar redness, height and textural improvement to be statistically significant. There is evidence that blood vessel diameters in hypertrophic scar tissue are much smaller than the vessels in port wine stains for which this laser was designed to treat. Therefore, by decreasing the pulse width, more vascular specific damage in the scar may be possible. It is likely that the beneficial effects demonstrated thus far result from changes to the chemical signals that regulate the scar growth and symptoms.