If you're living with psoriasis, you know how uncomfortable and embarrassing the red, itchy, scalyskin can be. Treatment options forpsoriasis include steroid cream or other medicated creams, oralmedications, and light therapy.
there is another option for treating psoriasis: excimer lasers, which deliver ultraviolet light to localized areas of the skin. This treatment uses intense, focused doses of laser light to help control areas of mild to moderate psoriasis without harming healthy skin around them. Targeted laser therapy is similar in effectiveness to traditional light therapy, but it works in fewer sessions with stronger doses of light that can reach deeper into the affected skin. The handheld laser wands are also good for reaching psoriasis in hard-to-treat areas, such as the elbows, knees, palms of the hands, soles of the feet, and scalp.
Laser treatments for psoriasis use one of two types of lasers: a pulsed dye laser (PDL) or an excimer laser.
Pulsed dye lasers create a concentrated beam of yellow light. When the light hits the skin, it converts to heat. The heat destroys the extra blood vessels in the skin that contribute to psoriasis, without harming nearby skin.
Excimer lasers aim a high intensity ultraviolet B (UVB) light dose of a very specific wavelength -- 308 nanometers -- directly at the psoriasis plaques. Because the laser light never touches the surrounding skin, it reduces the risk of UV radiationexposure. Excimer lasers are used to treat mild-to-moderate psoriasis.
With excimer laser therapy, patients usually have two treatments lasting 15-30 minutes each week for three or more weeks, with at least a 48-hour break between treatments. With pulsed dye laser therapy, sessions go for 15-30 minutes every three weeks.
