How Long Before I See Results from Pulsed Dye Laser Treatment?

Question

7 days ago I received one pulsed-dye laser treatment for a dark red, 1-year old scar. As my doctor predicted, there was some purplish bruising but that went away within a couple of days and my scar now looks exactly the same. When could I expect to see some improvement of the redness of my scar?

Rebecca Fitzgerald, MD · Answer

A red scar represents a number of broken capillaries. A pulsed dye laser is attracted to "red" - the hemoglobin in the blood.  The resulting heat causes some coagulation and this starts shutting down the pathways for the blood that makes the scar red.

	It takes repeated sessions to get the capillaries to close off completely, so it's usually not advisable to expect a single treatment to be enough for an area that contains more than a few tiny veins.

Alexandra Chambers, MD, PhD · Answer

Pulse dye laser therapy is quite a slow to work as it stimulates cells responsible for self-repair process in your skin. On average it can take 6 weeks to 6 months to get a result. it also requires repeat sessions -3-6 times every 2-6 weeks. It is often combined with steroid injections into scars to get maximum benefits.

How Long Before I See Results from Pulsed Dye Laser Treatment?

Answers (2)