skin graft for pws

#1 08-19-2005, 11:18 AM

Hi, I m new to the forum.
I am 28 years old, and i have pws on my face and neck. recently , I went to a hospital and consulted a dr. He said that the symptom of mine is very hard to cure by laser, he told me that this type pws would be cleared by skin graft.
And now , I wanna ask if someone with pws was treated by skin graft, and the feeling of the result and the hurt gone through?

hankbartenbach · #2 08-19-2005, 05:50 PM

Hi,

I am 23 with facial PWS.

Is your PWS puffy anywhere? If so, debulking of the hyperplageia areas would be recommended by a good Doctor. I would think a normal skin graft would not remove the PWS because they can not go deep enough to remove the blood in the capulliaries of your skin.
I am sure laser treatment would go a lot deeper.

What doctor do you have and what state are you in?
Under resources you can find a specialist in your area that could give you the proper treatment. I think you should get a second opinion before you go thur with the graft. Scaring might be an issure with the graft as well.

If you have any other questions please ask we are here for you.

Hank

juliemn · #3 08-22-2005, 02:43 AM

Hi Ivor,

Hank is right. I would explore other opinions. Pulsed dye laser treatment is the current standard for PWS lightening, but it does have it's limitations...especially for deeper areas that are affected. The laser really only attacks the capillaries near the surface. Portwine stains cannot be cured or removed....at least not yet. We can always hope for someone to figure out how to make that happen. I've not heard of skin grafting as the first choice of treatment. I guess I've not heard of it at all, but I could be wrong.

I'm curious as to what symptoms the doctor was referring to when he said that laser treatment would not be the best choice for you. Maybe if you could tell us how he arrived at that opinion, we could help out a bit more.

Julie

#4 08-29-2005, 06:55 AM

Thanks, Hank and Julie.
In fact, I came from China. And the pws area is about 200 sq.cm., the color may be purple(I don't recognize difference of purple and red). And I went to the most famous hospital of plastics in China, and visited the expert. He did not give me reason why I need skin graft, he said that PDT and PDL would not show any effect on me. I thought he was so arrogant that he said nothing even I asked some times. And I was back without therapy.
And now, I chose another hospital and conducted a PDL therapy. From my neck, I thought there was above 30% effect, but on my face, the effect was little. However, the face was not washed for one week, for some reason. I thought the reason was that.
Thanks for your help~

juliemn · #5 08-29-2005, 03:42 PM

It is hard to gauge success after just one treatment. The fact that you feel like you've had that much lightening on the neck is great. From what I've read...the neck will usually have better results than the face. Of course, there is not usually a significant change after just one laser treatment. Usually it requires several to reach your own maximum lightening.

My son has had only 8...and we're still pluggin away. He was actually scheduled for one this morning but woke up with a cough...so no treatment today. Hank, on the other hand has had a lot!! Maybe he'll chime in and tell you about it first hand. I can only comment through the eyes of a parent.

Good luck,
Julie

hankbartenbach · #6 08-29-2005, 09:28 PM

Hi Ivor,

Julie is right. It will take several treatments to start seeing lighting. I have had over a hundred laser treatments in the past 18 years. Looking at yourself everyday you will not be able to see the changes. Your family memebers and friends you see every once and awhile will be the ones that will be able to see the difference. The face will take longer then the neck probably because there is more cappulairies and vessels, but that is my opinion.

What laser are they useing? I use the V-Beam PDL currently. Out of the four lasers I have used this is the safest and the least painful machine, and the fastest. I would still recommend laser treatment over a skin graft.

Some doctors say not to get your face wet others say not to. Your doctor would know best on that because he/she would know the machine and how it would react to water.

Could you email or message Missy who you are seeing for laser theropy? We are always looking for resources in other countries of doctors that are good dermatologiest.

Talk to you soon.

Hank

#7 09-02-2005, 10:38 AM

Thanks again, Hank and Julie!
I believe the doctor, but the doctor didnot show the enough knowledge to convince me. And I worked hard to check some science papers and compared many hospitals and many laser machine. In fact, I have employed two models, Vbeam and Coolglide. And the neck and the face used Vbeam, because the therapy parameter was relatively mature, and the chest used the Coolglide. I am very concerned about PWS, for I loved my girlfriend.
And my mailbox is binchu@sina.com, if you have some problems, you can contact me by this mailbox.