Comparing Pulsed-dye Laser with Cryotherapy in the Treatment of Common Warts

INTRODUCTION: No modality has been identified as the treatment of chice for treating common warts. Cryothearpy and pulsed-dye laser (PDL) are among common modalities for treating these lesions. The aim of this study was to compare pulsed dye laser with cryotherapy in terms of efficacy and complications.METHODS: Of a total of 46 patients enrolled in this study, 7 patients withdrew the study, 20 patients underwent cryotherapy and 19 patients underwent PDL. Patients underwent a maximum of 4 therapeutic sessions at 3-week intervals in both groups. They were assessed for the remission rate (complete and partial),side effects and recurrence rate in each session and 1 month after termination of the treatments.RESULTS: At the end of the study complete remission was achieved in 37.8% of patients in cryotherapy group and in 52.3% of patients in PDL group. This difference wasn’t statistically significant (P=0.229), though after first and second sessions of treatment complete and excellent partial remission occurred more in PDL group with significant difference (P=0.007 and P=0.021). Pain and bulla formation occurred statistically higher in cryotherapy group (P=0.002 and P=0.001). Other complications were rare in both groups.CONCLUSION: In terms of efficacy, we couldn’t demonstrate the superiority of pulseddye laser therapy to cryotherapy in treating common warts. Both methods were safe for long-term complications but PDL was much safer for short-term complications