Since many of the readers are interested in syringoma, mainly its treatment, I decided to add articles about the different therapies used and their effectivity starting with CO2 laser. This article shows what CO2 laser can do for syringomas.
Let’s start with a study done using 10 patients. Basically this showed very good results. Here, a high energy, scanned carbon dioxide laser was used with the settings of 5 watts, 0.2 second scan time, and 3mm spot size. Patients had their syringoms around the eyes treated and the results were evaluated by both physicians and patients. Including patients as evaluators is extremely important because they are the better judges of the improvement seen. This evaluation was done over a long time—1-24 months. Results showed that all 10 patients were successfully treated and they remained syringoma-free during the evaluation period. The most common side effect from the laser is erythema or reddening of the treated skin and good news is that there was no scarring. The authors then concluded that CO2 laser is a ‘dependable, safe and non-scarring’ method for treatment of syringoma.
Another study used CO2 laser with multiple drilling method. Eleven patients participated and this time evaluation was made with pre- and post-laser photos. All patients had good results and no scars, erythema or pigmentary changes were noted.
Laser seems to be very effective and further proof is its use in cases of refractory familial syringoma. The patients were already treated with 2 other therapies but did not show good results so laser was then tried. Sharplan 700 CO2 laser was connected to an operating microscope and each syringoma was irradiated separately with single pulses. The results showed that patients had superficial scabbing after 1 week but without edema or pain. However, for 1 month patients had mild reddening of the skin. There is no need to worry because this completely healed thereafter. On the second year after treatment, no recurrences were noted as well as scarring or changes in pigmentation.
Overall, CO2 laser is very effective as shown above in the 3 journals. For readers interested in getting the treatment, consult your dermatologist now and inquire about this promising treatment.
References:
Castro DJ, Tartell PB, Soudant J, and Saxton RE. The Surgical Management of Facial Syringomas Using the Superpulsed CO2 Laser. Journal of Clinical Laser Medicine & Surgery. February 1993, 11(1): 33-37. doi:10.1089/clm.1993.11.33.
Park HJ, Lee DY, Lee, JH, Yang JM, Lee ES, and Kim WS. (2007). The Treatment of Syringomas by CO2 Laser Using a Multiple-Drilling Method. Dermatologic Surgery, 33: 310–313.
Wang, J. I. and Roenigk, H. H. (1999), Treatment of Multiple Facial Syringomas with the Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Laser . Dermatologic Surgery, 25: 136–139.
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