How Can I Treat a Port Wine Stain (Vascular Birthmark)?

The best way to treat a port wine stain is with a pulsed dye laser. This type of laser specifically targets the red pigment of the blood, targeting the stain and not the skin. Depending on the size and location of the port wine stain, you may need multiple treatments and you may be able to get close to 100% resolution.

The pulsed dyle laser, PDL, is the most recommended to treat this vascular malformation that can occur anywhere on the body. The most frequent site prompting clinical treatment is along any of three facial distributions. The number of treatments range from 1-several depending on the composition of each individual lesion as there are a variety of depths that these anomalous vessels may be located. Average treatment sessions required in my experience are 3-5. Patient... more

The pulsed dye laser is generally regarded as the most effective laser to remove these difficult birthmarks.  Other lasers which can be used are intense pulsed light devices (IPL), KTP, Nd:YAG.  Generally, 7 - 8 treatments are needed to get about 75 - 80% fading of the port wine stain.  The closer the port wine stain is to the heart the better the treatment usually is.  For example, face PWS have a better response than those on the arms or legs.  I recommend... more

Each laser wavelength targets a specific chromophore. For vascular birthmarks, we use a laser known as pulse-dye to target the red color in blood. This effectively removes the vascular birthmark. Although, the depth of the birthmark may be superficial or deep, the majority of these lesions can be removed with multiple sessions.