I had Pulse Dye Laser for Scars. How many treatments are normally required to make scar go white ?

Question

I have a large scar on calve and knee from surgery , I have had 3 pulse dye lasers done and they havnt reduced the redness at all , how many treatments are normally required to make scar go white ? Is there any other treatments to reduce redness for scars, would steroid injection help scar that is thick and red ? Could u please get back to me .

Kimberly Butterwick, MD · Answer

Scars can be tricky. Scars that are treated within the first year are usually always easier to treat, so it depends on how old the scar is. But in general any scar that is treated with laser (PDL) will do better than no treatment at all. PDL (pulse dye laser) is an appropriate laser to use for red scars.

Raffy Karamanoukian, MD, FACS · Answer

The pulsed dye laser is the best laser for red scars. That said, it may take many sessions, depending on the cause of your redness and hypervascularity. 

	 

	Raffy Karamanoukian, MD FACS

	Los Angeles, CA

Jordan C. Carqueville, MD · Answer

The PDL laser is effective in reducing erythema (redness) of scars.  It may take a few treatments before the desired outcome is achieved, sometimes more than three.  Increasing the energy levels with each treatment, as tolerated, may help to achieve maximum benefit.  Injection of a scar with intralesional steriods is used to induce atrophy of a thickened or hypertrophic scar.

Michael Contreras, MD · Answer

In my experience you should have noticed some improvement after 3 PDL treatments. Scars that are thickened and red respond best initially to intralesional (injected) steroid. It can take 3-4 steroid injections to maximally thin out a scar. This usually doesn't address the redness very much, so I often follow this up with a series of PDL treatments. I hope this helps.

I had Pulse Dye Laser for Scars. How many treatments are normally required to make scar go white ?

Answers (4)