Birthmarks can be hard to live with when they appear on the face, neck or another conspicuous place. When they are near the eyes they can impose a threat to your vision. Laser treatments can greatly reduce and usually remove birthmarks. Talk to your doctor or dermatologist to determine whether your birthmark should be removed.
Reasons for Birthmark Laser Treatment
There are several reasons people choose to remove their birthmark. Some of these are cosmetic; they do not like their appearance or are self conscious about it. By removing the birthmark these individuals feel they can increase their self esteem and self confidence in their appearance.
Birthmark laser treatment is done for medical reasons as well as cosmetic. When a birthmark is on or near the eye area, there is increased risk for glaucoma, visual impairment and seizures.
About Birthmark Laser Treatment
Laser surgery is commonly used to lighten the dark tones of a birthmark. Some birthmarks can be removed with one treatment. Others, like port wine stain birthmarks can take multiple treatments spaced over several months.
These laser treatments are usually done in the doctor’s office and sometimes in a surgical suite depending on the intensity of the treatment to be done. There is no overnight stay needed.
Using a high energy pulsing laser targeted to specific areas of the skin birthmarks can now be precisely removed. The procedure is usually painless; you may feel a slight tingling sensation when the laser is working. The procedure does not require the use of anesthesia.
Birthmark laser treatment can take only a few minutes to several hours dependent on the size, type, shape and intensity of the birthmark.
There is very minimal healing time needed after having a birthmark laser treatment. If you have had a deep treatment there may be some tenderness and slight bruising noted but this will generally dissipate within a week.
Risks Associated with Birthmark Laser Treatment
There are minimal risks associated with laser removal of a birthmark. There is a risk of darker patches surrounded by lighter skin in treatment areas when your skin tone is uneven. This is usually corrected with a second treatment. Some rare risks include scabbing, bruising, tenderness and bleeding at the treatment site.
There is also the risk with deep pigmented birthmarks that they will begin to resurface. This is due to the depth of the pigmentation being too deep for the laser to completely penetrate. When this occurs, it will require more laser treatments to further reduce the pigmentation as it surfaces.
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