Houston dermatologist Paul M. Friedman, MD won the Best of Cutaneous Applications Abstract Session Award for his paper on the use of a novel optical device to treat vexing nasal telangiectasias. The award was presented at the 2016 Annual Conference of the American Society for Laser Medicine and Surgery (ASLMS) in Boston.

His paper, titled TRASER: Preliminary Results from a Clinical Trial for the Treatment of Nasal Telangiectasias, showed a greater than 75 percent improvement in nasal telangiectasias after one and three-month follow-up. TRASER stands for Total Reflection Amplification of Spontaneous Emission of Radiation. It’s not a laser or an intense pulsed light device. Instead, TRASER is a fluorescent-based optical device that is tunable. A narrow spectrum of light can be configured with the ability to provide a wide range of parameters based on the condition that is targeted.

“What is really exciting about this technology is its ability to treat a broad range of applications utilizing only one device,” says Dr. Friedman in a news release.  Dr. Friedman is the director of Dermatology & Laser Surgery Center of Houston, Texas, and also practices at the Laser & Skin Surgery Center of New York. He is a clinical assistant professor at the University of Texas Medical School, department of dermatology, and a clinical assistant professor of dermatology at the Weill Cornell Medical College, Houston Methodist Hospital. He is also on staff at Texas Children's Hospital and Memorial-Hermann Hospital-Texas Medical Center.