success. Liquid nitrogen and the carbon dioxide laser have also been used and proven to be ineffective. Tattooing has been attempted on hemangiomas, but the results are temporary, and merely camouflage the birthmark. The best available treatment options are the use of lasers which target the vasculature in the skin, such as the Dye, Help-G and Excel lasers.

What treatments are available for vascular birthmarks?
Many forms of therapy have been used on hemangiomas in the past, however most have been abandoned because they are either ineffective or because they create another deformity that is as undesirable as the hemangioma itself. Surgeons have removed port wine hemangiomas and reconstructed the area with skin grafts.

Such procedures entail a significant amount of surgery, and the scars that result are often quite objectionable. X-rays, which were used in the past, are now known to be potentially dangerous and are no longer used to treat port wine hemangiomas. A variety of agents have been injected into the involved skin but with no significant success. Liquid nitrogen and the carbon dioxide laser have also been used and proven to be ineffective. Tattooing has been attempted on hemangiomas, but the results are temporary, and merely camouflage the birthmark. The best available treatment options are the use of lasers which target the vasculature in the skin, such as the Dye, Help-G and Excel lasers.

How do the vascular removal lasers work?
These lasers generate a very powerful light. Laser light produces an enormous amount of energy, which may be finely focused. The laser light passes harmlessly through the top layer of skin. When it hits the red color of the birthmark, the light is absorbed and its energy released as heat. The heat breaks, coagulates or cauterizes the small vessels under the skin. The intense heat produced by the reaction to the laser light may cause a bruise and/or swelling, which gradually disappears. It may require a number of sessions to reach all the layers of a hemangioma. Scar and irregular pigmentation is possible but exceedingly uncommon.

For more information please visit our Laser Removal of Vascular Lesions page