Treatment of Idiopathic Guttate Hypomelanosis with CO₂ and Er:YAG Fractional Laser

Abstract

Idiopathic guttate hypomelanosis (IGH) is an acquired disorder presenting with small hypopigmented macules that occur chiefly on sun exposed regions of the skin. Treatments for IGH include corticosteroid, either topical or intralesional, topical retinoid, topical calcineurin inhibitors and surgical techniques. A 40-year-old Korean female patient presented with hypopigmented and depigmented macules with discrete circumscribed borders on her lower legs for several years. She was diagnosed with IGH and treated with carbon dioxide (CO₂) fractional laser (FL) on the lesion of the right popliteal fossa and Erbium-doped Yttrium Aluminium Garnet (Er:YAG) FL on the lesion of the right thigh. After four sessions of treatments at 4-week intervals, she had achieved good cosmetic results without side effects or complications. Clinical assessment showed similar outcomes of two IGH lesions treated with Er:YAG FL and CO₂ FL. Accordingly, we suggest that FL could be considered as a therapeutic option for treatment of IGH.