Quantitative assessment of port-wine stains using chromametry: preliminary results

Objective assessment of the efficacy of different lasers for the treatment of port wine stains remains difficult. Chromametry gives reproducible information on the color of PWS, but its data are useless for a medical doctor. Thus a specific software was developed to allow graphic representation of PWS characteristics. Before the first laser treatment and after every treatment, tests were done using a chromameter on a marked zone of the PWS and on the control-lateral normal zone which represents the reference. The software calculates and represents graphically the difference of color between PWS and normal skin using data provided by the chromameter. Three parameters are calculated: (Delta) H is the difference of hue, (Delta) L is the difference of lightness and (Delta) E is the total difference of color. Each measured zone is represented by its coordinates. Calculated initial values were compared with the subjective initial color assessed by the dermatologist. The variation of the color difference was calculated using the successive values of (Delta) E after n treatments and was compared with the subjective classification of fading. Since January 1995, forty three locations have been measured before laser treatment. Purple PWS tended to differentiate from others but red and dark pink PWS could not be differentiated. The evolution of the color after treatment was calculated in 29 PWS treated 3 or 4 times. Poor result corresponded to an increase of (Delta) E. Fair and good results were associated to a decrease of (Delta) E. We did not observe excellent results during this study. These promising preliminary results need to be confirmed in a larger group of patients.