Laser treatment of epidermal nevi: A multicenter retrospective study with long-term follow-up.

BACKGROUND

Patients with epidermal nevi strongly demand cosmetic improvement. Laser treatment appears appealing and is frequently used in clinical practice. Nevertheless, large series with long-term follow-up are missing, preventing definitive conclusions about its real benefit.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the long-term effectiveness and safety of lasers for epidermal nevi.

METHODS

Bicentric, retrospective, cohort study, including all patients treated with a laser for an epidermal nevus with more than a 1-year follow-up.

RESULTS

Seventy patients were treated for different types of epidermal nevi, mostly with ablative lasers: 23 verrucous epidermal nevi, 16 nevi sebaceous, 26 Becker nevi, 2 inflammatory linear verrucous epidermal nevi, 1 smooth-muscle hamartoma, 1 rounded and velvety epidermal nevus, and 1 nevus lipomatosus superficialis. The follow-up period was a median of 37 months (range, 12-127 months). Better results, fewer recurrences, and higher patient satisfaction were noted in treatments for verrucous epidermal nevi than for nevi sebaceous. Q-switched lasers failed to show any degree of improvement in almost all patients with Becker nevus.

LIMITATIONS

The retrospective nature of the study.

CONCLUSIONS

Ablative lasers can treat verrucous epidermal nevi with good long-term esthetic results but have limited long-term efficacy for nevus sebaceous. Q-switched lasers failed to improve Becker nevi.