Laser treatment for skin disease

epu1is', Igor Ponomarev2Laboratory pf PDT, Lithuanian Oncology Center, Vilmus 2600Lebedev Physics Inst. Moscow 117—924ABSTRACTThe correct selection of patients is the most difficult part of the laser treatment. Since 1985 the total number of patientstreated by us using different laser systems was 1544 (2622 benign and malignant skin lesions). High power lasers: Nd:YAG and CO2 lasers were used by us for surgical treatment. Low power lasers: Helium-Neon (gas), Coppervapour, Goldvapour and Dye lasers were applied by us to PDT or to treatment of port wine hemangiomas. This paper reports our effortsin selecting the patients with different skin lesions for the treatment with different laser systems.Key words: Skin lesions, different laser systems.INTRODUCTIONSince 1963 when Leon Goldman pioneered the use of the laser in dermatologic surgical procedures, laser treatment hasgained rapid recognition in the medical centres in USA and Europe. Little specific infoprmation is available on the diffusionand use lasers in Europe.The data presented in Table 1. depicts the number of high power lasers for medical or health care purposes in a numberof selected countries in 19912.Table 1. The number of lasers and lasers per million population in selected countries in 1990—1991Country No of Lasers