SAN DIEGO – Using a 1,064-nm Q-switched Nd:YAG laser with or without 1,550-nm nonablative fractional resurfacing is safe and effective for treatment of Nevus of Ota in Black patients with Fitzpatrick skin types V-VI, results from a small single-center study showed.
Dr Shelby Kubicki
Nevus of Ota is a benign melanocytic lesion that presents as a unilateral blue-gray to blue-brown facial patch favoring the distribution of the first two branches of the trigeminal nerve. Among Asians, the prevalence of the condition among Asians is estimated to be between 0.03% and 1.113%, while the prevalence among Blacks population is estimated to be between 0.01% and 0.016%, Shelby L. Kubicki, MD, said during a clinical abstract session at the annual meeting of the American Society for Laser Medicine and Surgery.
"Most existing literature describes the characteristics and treatment of Nevus of Ota based on Asian patients with skin types I-IV," said Kubicki, a third-year dermatology resident at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center/University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, both in Houston. "Special considerations are required when treating [Fitzpatrick skin types] V-VI, which is why it's important to characterize these patients, to make sure they're well represented in the literature."
In what she said is the largest reported case series of its kind, Kubicki and colleagues identified eight Fitzpatrick skin type V or VI patients who underwent laser treatment for Nevus of Ota from 2016-2021.
