THE THERAPEUTIC EFFECTS OF THE Q-SWITCHED RUBY LASER ON TATTOOS AND PIGMENTED LESIONS OF KOREANS

ABSTRACT

The Q-switched ruby laser has been used in clinics since the early 1980s. It was tried to remove tattoos at first with good effects. Thereafter, some physicians reported the usefulness of the laser in the treatment of some kinds of pigmented lesions such as nevus of Ota, freckles and lentigines. The reason why the Q-switched ruby laser has a lot of effect on tattoos and some pigmented lesions is that the laser has the function of selective photothermolysis on those cutaneous lesions. The authors have treated 185 patients with tattoos and cutaneous pigmented lesions using the Q-switched ruby laser during last 4 years ago. Patients had tattoos, nevus of Ota, freckles, lentigines, melasma, postinflammatory hyperpigmentation, and were followed up over 5 months after the end of the laser treatment. The authors analysed the results and compared them with other's results in Caucasians, and we intended to present a guide of the treatment using Q-switched ruby laser in Koreans. The results were as follows 1. Tattoos showed good results after the treatment because the most of tattoos are black or dark blue in color and cheated by amateur. We repeated the laser treatments with the interval of 2 weeks. 2. Nevus of Ota, freckles and lentigines showed good results after treatment of the Q-switched ruby laser 3. Melasma showed no improvement after the treatment. 4. The treatment of postinflammatory hyperpigmentation using the Q-switched ruby laser must be confined within a part of the lesion at the first visit of patient, because the therapeutic effects were observed in some patients only and the degree of depigmention after treatment was diverse. 5. The most common complication after Q-switched ruby laser treatment was pigmentary change, including hyperpigmentation in most of the cases and hypopigmentation in some cases. However, there was no visible scar or remarkable change of skin texture in all of the cases.