ABSTRACT
One of the fi rst lesions to be treated using selective photothermolysis (SPT) was the port-wine stain (PWS), and vascular lesions were the fi rst “test” case for SPT. Although Goldman accurately predicted that vascular lesions could be selectively heated, the pulsed dye laser (PDL) was the fi rst laser to show that this selectivity was practical. The spectrum of oxy-and deoxy-hemoglobin (HgB) should be memorized by the laser surgeon (see Fig. 1.15 in chap. 1). Generally laser parameters should be applied that exploit the absorption peaks for oxyHgB (roughly 70% of the total HgB, the remainder being mostly deoxy-HgB and met-HgB).
