Image IQ: Superficial lesion on right upper back

A middle-aged male patient with a superficial basal cell carcinoma on right upper back prior to (left) and six months after (right) 1064 nm Nd:YAG laser treatment. Photos: Jusleen Ahluwalia, M.D.

Vascular-specific lasers have been increasingly studied for the treatment of basal cell carcinoma (BCC), specifically for non-aggressive BCCs, including the superficial and nodular subtypes, and may achieve good outcomes, according to Jusleen Ahluwalia, M.D., Mathew Avram, M.D., and Arisa Ortiz, M.D., department of dermatology, University of California, San Diego Health, La Jolla, Calif., and Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston. They published a review in the journal Dermatologic Surgery that examined the role of laser therapy for BCC. Read more.