Treatment of venous lesions of the lips and perioral area with a long-pulsed Nd:YAG laser.

The conventional treatments for venous lesions of the lip have been excision, cryotherapy, infrared coagulation, and sclerotherapy. We report the use of a long-pulsed Nd:YAG laser in 31 consecutive patients. At a mean follow up of 12 months (6 weeks to 3 years), 27 (87%) had no evidence of recurrence and one had a small contracted scar. The treatment is effective for both small and large lesions, and operation or other ablative techniques are no longer indicated, or considerably less relevant.