Evaluation of Combined Treatment With Er:YAG & Nd:YAG Lasers for the Treatment of Recalcitrant Warts

Background: Viral warts are common infectious skin disease induced by human papillomavirus (HPV). Lasers have been used for warts treatment in recent years with variable success rates. Objective: The goal of this clinical trial is to prospectively evaluate combined treatment with Er:YAG laser and long-pulsed Nd:YAG laser compared to Er:YAG laser for the treatment of recalcitrant warts after one session. The main question it aims to answer is: Does adding a treatment of long-pulsed Nd:YAG laser to Er:YAG laser in the same treatment session to the same wart have more curing effect than using the Er:YAG laser alone? This study included 240 lesions from 24 patients. All the lesions were diagnosed clinically as recalcitrant warts after failure of topical treatment and Cryotherapy. 120 lesions underwent a combined therapy of Er:YAG and long-pulsed (LP) Nd:YAG lasers, and the remaining 120 lesions underwent Er:YAG laser therapy only. The clearance rate was evaluated 5 weeks after and classified by three-graded evaluation: complete response, partial response, and poor response. Researchers will compare the 120 treated warts with the combined lasers therapy to the 120 treated warts treated with Er:YAG laser alone to see if adding the Nd:YAG laser therapy has an additional curing value.

Sex

All

Minimum age

8 Years

Maximum age

80 Years

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Patients who were clinically diagnosed with recalcitrant warts after two or more failed treatment lines with Cryotherapy and topical treatments.
2. Patients above the age of 8 and under the age of 80.

Exclusion Criteria:

1. The use of topical treatment for wart lesions in the past month.
2. Methods of physical destruction of the lesions in the past month such as surgical excision, electrodesiccation, cryosurgery or laser were excluded.
3. Patients with single wart lesion were excluded.
4. Pregnant and breast- feeding patients.
5. Patients on anticoagulant drugs.
6. Children below the age of 8.

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