Treatment of port wine stains with the CO2 laser.

Port wine stains represent a relatively common congenital vascular lesion, often appearing on the head and neck. Sixty-six consecutive treatments of port wine stains are evaluated in this study. This represents 38 patients, with many of these patients receiving multiple treatments to different areas of the lesion. All patients were treated with a CO2 surgical laser system. Of these patients, 62.9% showed good to excellent blanching, with the remainder showing fair or poor results. Hypertrophic scarring occurred in 7.4% of cases. The CO2 laser represents another tool with which these lesions can be treated. Further clinical experience is required with both the argon and the CO2 laser if the treatment of these disfiguring lesions is to be improved.