Port Wine Stain Birthmarks

Port Wine Stain Birthmarks (PWSB), or naevus flammeus, occurs in approximately three out of 1,000 infants most often occurring on the face sometimes with enormous impact on the self image of the sufferer. Patient satisfaction with available treatments for PWSB is rarely achieved often due to revascularization of the blood vessels by angiogenesis from our natural wound healing process.
Several departments at the University of California, Irvine have teamed up with Harvard Medical School, Baylor College of Texas, and Conrex Pharmaceutical Corporation with grants from the National Institutes of Health and the American Society of Laser Medicine and Surgery (and others) to determine if a combination of laser surgery and a Permeation Enhancement Technology (P.E.T.™) enhanced topical application of the drug Rapamycin (an anti-angiogenic agent) could improve overall treatment results versus laser surgery alone.
The result comparison was very significant. In the laser-only treatment group 96 percent of participants experienced reperfusion of blood vessels after five to 14 days compared with only 36 percent of the P.E.T.™ enhanced topical drug and laser surgery treatment group. Though more study is needed, it seems clear that combined photo and enhanced topical anti-angiogenic therapy may significantly improve the efficacy of PWSB treatment. This is good news for PWSB sufferers potentially improving patient satisfaction with treatment and, perhaps, overall quality of life.