Simple Laser Treatments May Help Prevent Nonmelanoma Skin Cancer

In a study of patients with a history of facial keratinocyte carcinoma, 20.9 percent of those treated with nonablative fractional lasers experienced a subsequent keratinocyte carcinoma, compared with 40.4% of patients who did not receive laser treatment.

Nonablative fractional lasers treatments may help prevent basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma, a new study suggests.

Nonablative fractional lasers (NAFL) are currently used to treat scars, sun-damaged skin, age spots, and more; however, their effectiveness for preventing skin damage is unknown.

Mathew Avram, MD, JD, director of the Mass General Dermatology Laser & Cosmetic Center, and his colleagues studied patients who had been treated for facial keratinocyte carcinoma in the past. Such patients have a 35 percent risk of experiencing a subsequent keratinocyte carcinoma within three years and a 50 percent risk within five years.

In the study, 43 patients received NAFL therapy, and 52 served as controls and did not receive NAFL therapy.

The rate of subsequent facial keratinocyte carcinoma development over an average follow-up of more than six years was 20.9 percent in NAFL-treated patients and 40.4 percent in controls, indicating that patients treated with NAFL had about half the risk.

When controlling for age, gender, and skin type, control patients were 2.65-times more likely to develop a new facial keratinocyte carcinoma than NAFL-treated counterparts.

Also, among patients who developed a facial keratinocyte carcinoma, the time to development was significantly longer in patients treated with NAFL compared with untreated patients, the study showed.

“These findings suggest that NAFL treatment may have an important role in protecting against subsequent keratinocyte carcinomas,” says Dr. Avram in a news release.

“While the mechanism of NAFL’s protective effect is not completely understood, it is suspected that NAFL treatment reduces the overall burden of photo damaged keratinocytes and may promote a wound healing response, which gives healthy skin cells a selective advantage,” he says.

Dr. Avram noted that additional studies are warranted to more critically assess the role of NAFL in skin cancer prevention, to reveal the duration of its protective effects, and to determine optimal treatment parameters.

“Based on this research, it’s encouraged for patients to have nonablative laser treatments to help prevent skin cancer if they are at risk or notice abnormalities,” says Avram.

In a study of patients with a history of facial keratinocyte carcinoma, 20.9 percent of those treated with nonablative fractional lasers experienced a subsequent keratinocyte carcinoma, compared with 40.4 percent of patients who did not receive laser treatment. Among patients who developed a facial keratinocyte carcinoma, the time to development was longer in patients treated with NAFL compared with untreated 

The study appears in Dermatologic Surgery.