Treatment of post-pulsed dye laser purpura with pulsed dye laser

The pulsed dye laser (PDL) is used for the treatment of a variety of vascular and nonvascular disorders, and its therapeutic efficacy often depends on purpura as an endpoint. However, post-PDL purpura is an undesirable side effect of treatment as it may increase patient dissatisfaction and downtime. Recent studies have suggested that repeat treatment with PDL may speed the resolution of post-procedural purpura; however, there is paucity of data on using repeat PDL treatment specifically for post-PDL purpura. We report three cases of 585nm PDL-induced purpura treated with 595nm PDL with clinically significant improvement. We suggest that treatment with PDL, which targets hemoglobin and its breakdown products, after initial PDL treatment may reduce post-PDL purpura.