Light Therapy for Acne

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Low-intensity indocyanine-green laser phototherapy of acne vulgaris: Pilot study.

Genina EA, Bashkatov AN, Simonenko GV, Odoevskaya OD, Tuchin VV, Altshuler GB.Saratov State University, Optics Department, Astrakhanskaya 83, Saratov 410026, Russia.

Near infrared (NIR) diode laser low-intensity (soft) phototherapy with the topical application of indocyanine green (ICG) has been suggested for treatment of acne vulgaris. Twelve volunteers with acne lesions on their faces and/or backs were enrolled in the experiment. Skin areas of the subjects that were 4x5 cm(2) were stained with ICG solution for 5 min before laser irradiation (803 nm) at a power density up to 50 mW/cm(2) for 5 to 10 min.

For 75% of the subjects, a single treatment was provided and for the other 25%, eight sequential treatments over a period of a month were carried out. Observations a month after the completion of the treatment showed that only the multiple treatments with a combination of ICG and NIR irradiation reduced inflammation and improved the state of the skin for a month without any side effects. A month after treatment, the improvement was about 80% for the group receiving multiple treatments. Single treatments did not have a prolonged effect. (c) 2004 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers.

J Biomed Opt. 2004 Jul-Aug;9(4):828-34.

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