Lasers for Skin Cancer

The optimal laser treatment for skin cancer has not yet been developed. The first lasers that were used in an attempt to treat skin cancer emitted a continuous wave; however, significant nonspecific thermal heating occurred. In order to not extend beyond the thermal relaxation time of targeted tissue, pulsed lasers were developed. These lasers are now showing promise for treating skin cancer, specifically basal cell carcinoma. Recent studies by Shah et al. followed by Konnikov et al. have demonstrated that the 595 nm pulse dye laser may be effective for basal cell carcinomas of approximately 1.5 cm or less in diameter. Other approaches combining the Er:YAG and CO2 ablative lasers as adjunctive agents to photodynamic therapy are also showing promise for the treatment of basal cell carcinomas.