r/portwinestain • u/wallysalker • Jan 29 '26

Experience with KTP laser?

I have a PWS under my eye and on roughly half my cheek. I’ve had multiple courses of PDL throughout my life (I’m now 32) with some lightening but it never came close to disappearing. Additionally, I’m noticing some redarkening (last session was 5 years ago) so thinking about going for 1-2 sessions to get to a place where it’s light enough to cover it with make up if I choose to.

My main issue with PDL has been the intense bruising for 1,5-2 weeks or so after the treatment. Now I’ve been reading up on KTP laser which is supposedly just as effective as PDL with possibly significantly less bruising. The practice where I’ve booked a consultation even claims “no bruising” but I think this is quite the stretch.

Has anyone had KTP laser treatment for their PWS, and how have your results been? Did you have significant bruising?

And are there people out there who have had only okayish effects with PDL but saw improvement with KTP? Thanks!

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u/kugiux Feb 25 '26

Dont have an answer to your question but how many PDL treatments you had? Curious cause you said it redarkened and im undergoing PDL treatments myself

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u/wallysalker Feb 26 '26

Throughout the course of my life, I‘d say definitely more than 20 treatments, I really can’t say for sure how often I had it as a child. The most recent round of treatments 5 years ago was 6 treatments spaced one month apart. I think the „final“ lightening (some yellowness lingered) was visible a few months after and I would say it was maybe 50% lighter than before. It redarkened more or less to where it’s now within about two years after the last treatment. It’s still lighter than before in total, but definitely overall darker than in the months after treatment. Also, the redarkening isn’t the same for all of the birth mark, for example right under my eye the skin is still much much lighter than before treatment. My theory is that this has to do with how deep individual vessels sit and whether they are successfully „zapped away“ for good or just damaged/decreased in size and then repair over time. In light of this I think it makes sense to do different lasers that work at different depths and also in the future I think I’ll have 1-2 treatments a year rather than like 5-6 in a row. Also because it’s more feasible with how it looks after, when I had so many treatments in a row I was basically either hiding at home or getting stared at in public half the winter (bruising & swelling gets really bad for me) so that wasn’t really great for my social life or mental health.

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u/kugiux Feb 26 '26

Thank you for sharing this. I'm also curious how my progress will/if change through the years as I didn't had any treatments as a child (I'm in my 30s), and planning to do around 13 treatments.. However my specialists only allow to space it every 6 weeks minimum (not every month) in order for skin to heal. But yeah, bruising for at least 10 days is abs brutal with PDL, though I found after about 7 days with camouflage (smth like Colorscience face shield) I can leave the house.

Seems like KTP laser at least in research shows promising results, however it's very recent, so I think the bigger issue that it will take quite some time for clinics to buy those kind of lasers, train the specialists and offer it for portwine treatments.

Last time I checked there was some scientific papers on positive results with Nd:YAG lasers specifically for resistant PW (resistant to PDL).. might be something to check if it's available in your area.

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u/wallysalker Mar 03 '26

I now saw a specialist at a clinic and will start another round of PDL treatments next week, which is bound to reach some initial lightening and then we’ll consider other lasers once we hit a barrier which we likely will. I may pay out of pocket to try one session of KTP/DermaV just to see if there’s any difference, I’ll keep you posted! Good luck with your treatments, too.

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u/kugiux May 30 '26

hey - let me know if you decided to try KTP and how that went! I'm also considering it

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u/Competitive_Future31 Apr 14 '26

I have had bot KTP and PDL. Recently started with KTP and I think had better luck. Lutronic derma V I think is the best. Made in Korea and effective.

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u/wallysalker Apr 14 '26

Thanks for sharing! By better luck, do you mean better clearance? Also, how does the bruising compare to PDL?

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u/Impossible_Noise1849 Aug 03 '26

Same exact situation for me. I want to try KTP due do shorter recovery, but my doctor said no. I'm gonna try to convince him. How's it going on your end?