LAM FACIAL PLASTICS

Dr. Lam,
Have you experienced KTP side effects such as hypopigmentation in your practice? Since it is a short wavelength laser, it is my understanding that this can occur at times. Would this only occur for certain skin types/ethnicities or if the energy level is very high? Are there other side effects, especially if the treatment is aggressive? Thanks!

at the levels that i use it it is pretty rare. when treating red at long pulse durations i have been fine.
best,
sml

Sounds good. If the patient does not respond to the long duration treatment, is a shorter pulse duration ever a consideration or does the risk/reward scenario not benefit the patient? It is my understanding that some conditions may respond better with shorter durations.

When you say that hypopigmentation is rare, can you approximately quantify this?

Thanks again.

with long-pulses, you get better red color management. hypopigmentation should not occur.
best,
sml

KTP has as its target chromophores oxyhemoglobin and melanin.As such, it is typically used to treat telangiectasia and superficial pigmented lesions. However, since this laser has a greater optical penetration depth into skin than blue light, it has the innate ability to activate bacterial porphyrins along with some nonspecific collateral thermal injury to sebaceous glands, and is generally well tolerated. Thus, it has also been trialed in the treatment of acne vulgaris.

thanks.