The standard of beauty in the Middle East is fair, lighter, flawless, smooth skin with even color and texture, free of scars, free of hyperpigmentation or hypo-pigmentation.

Skin dyschromia is one of the most stressful problems for both genders. There are many different conditions that can lead to Post eruptive hyper-pigmentation PIH, whether there are endogenous or exogenous factors. Our study was focused on exogenous factors, and establishing the efficacy of treating it by a novel ND Yag Laser.

PIH in Kuwait

The rate of PIH in Kuwait is increased among females of different age groups. There are multiple factors including a hot sunny climate almost all year round, and cultural lifestyle behaviors in addition to their dark skin. Chronic tanning and sun exposure causes solar burn that develops PIH in adults after years of sun exposure. Cultural habits include frictional dermatitis by Moroccan bath, very prevalent among Kuwaiti females; burning bakhoor or Arabian incense by charcoal chips used as a tradition behavior in Kuwait and gulf region to obtain a perfumed body; and last but not least, hair removal by waxing leads to skin inflammation and pigmentation.

Although the majority of women in our society are veiled outdoors, most of them wear Western clothes indoors and follow fashion and trends like any Western women, if not more. Thus, the treatment of PIH is a must but can be a challenging.

Treating with a ND Yag Laser

Although, lots of laser technologies, such as IPL, Ruby and Alex lasers, had been used as an optional therapy of PIH, their main problem was causing more PIH. In the author’s opinion the safest is a specific Q-switched 1064-nm Nd: YAG laser. Other than the low fluence of the Q-switched 1064 nm laser, its main golden reason for its efficacy is the top-hat mode in which energy is distributed through the whole spot size equally, minimizing thermal damage. So the low fluence, top-hat mode, short pulse and high peak power makes it ideal to treat PIH in the dark skin.

The author has treated faces, necks, axillas, back, elbows, knees, even the buttocks with fairly good results in almost all of the cases.

Treatments were spaced at least 10-14 days apart even longer in some darker patients, at least 4 treatments were done before its assessed by pre and post photo by the author and the patient. Almost all patients were satisfied with very few side effects which were easily manageable.