Laser for Burn Scar Treatment

Restoration of form and function after burn injury remains challenging. Emerging laser and pulsed light technologies have been beneficial in the treatment of patients with hypertrophic scars, which may be associated with persistent hyperemia, chronic folliculitis, intense pruritus, and neuropathic pain. The following lasers have been used with varying levels of success in burn scar reconstruction: 1) vascular-specific pulsed dye laser (PDL) to reduce hyperemia, (2) ablative fractional CO2 laser to improve texture and pliability of the burn scar, (3) ablative Erbium:YAG laser (4) lasers to target pigment including the ruby, NgYAG and Alexandrite lasers and (5) intense pulsed light (IPL) to correct burn scar pruritus, dyschromia, and alleviate chronic folliculitis. This chapter will briefly review the history of lasers, the physics of laser, and provide an overview of the different lasers utilized in burn reconstruction thus far. Additionally, at the end of this chapter, laser safety will be reviewed along with future directions for laser surgery in burn reconstruction.