The treatment of eruptive syringomas in an African American patient with a combination of trichloroacetic acid and CO2 laser destruction

Abstract

Background: Eruptive syringomas are uncommon benign adnexal neoplasms. They are numerous and disseminated and often have a predilection for the neck, face, chest, and axillary fossae. Because they are persistent, usually numerous, and often on exposed sites, the lesions may be disfiguring and often pose significant cosmetic concerns for patients. Many treatment modalities such as dermabrasion, electrodesiccation with curettage, and scissors excision have been tried with some success, but more recently lasers have provided good to excellent results.

Objective: To describe an approach to the treatment of eruptive syringomas in an African American patient with a combination of trichloroacetic acid (TCA) and CO2 laser resurfacing, providing acceptable cosmetic results without significant side effects.

Methods: We describe an African American patient with eruptive syringomas of the face treated with a combination of TCA and CO2 laser resurfacing with good results.

Results: While the syringomas were not completely ablated, the combination of TCA and CO2 laser resurfacing provided acceptable cosmetic results without significant side effects.

Conclusion: The TCA pretreatment probably removed some of the bulk of the surface of the lesions, thereby reducing the number of laser passes required to flatten the remainder of the lesions and thus lessening the potential for thermal damage at the treated sites and of surrounding normal skin.