Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2019 Aug;34(6):1071-1079.
doi: 10.1007/s10103-019-02734-3. Epub 2019 Feb 14.

Lasers for Becker's nevus

Yiping Zhong  1 , Bin Yang  1 , Lining Huang  1 , Peter M Elias  2 , Mao-Qiang Man  3   4
Affiliations

Lasers for Becker's nevus

Yiping Zhong et al. Lasers Med Sci. 2019 Aug.

Abstract

Becker's nevus is a common pigmented dermatosis, usually featured by ipsilateral pigmented patch with hypertrichosis. Becker's nevus is often treated with various types of lasers although other regimens are available. However, clinical outcomes appear inconsistent among studies. To summarize the clinical outcomes of Becker's nevus treated with lasers via literature review. A variety of lasers had been used alone or in combination to treat Becker's nevus. Laser wavelengths used for Becker's nevus ranged from 504 to 10,600 nm, while the number of treatment varied from 1 to 12 sessions. The clinical outcomes were mixed although combination of lasers with different wavelengths appeared to achieve a better efficacy. Adverse effects were usually mild to moderate erythema. While lasers are relatively safe, their efficacy for Becker's nevus is moderate. It seems that combination therapy could improve the outcome. However, trials in larger group of patients are required to validate the efficacy of each type of lasers for Becker's nevus.

Keywords: Becker’s nevus; Hypertrichosis; Laser; Pigmentation.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

References

    1. de Almeida HL Jr, Duquia RP, Souza PR, Breunig Jde A(2010) Prevalence and characteristics of Becker nevus in Brazilian 18-year-old males. Int J Dermatol. 49:718–20 - PubMed
    1. Ballone E, Fazii P, Lappa G, Di Mascio R, Di Mascio C, Schioppa F(2003) Prevalence of Becker’s nevi in a population of young men in central Italy. J Am Acad Dermatol. 48:795. - PubMed
    1. Kim YJ, Roh MR, Lee JH, Na JI, Ko JY, Jung JM, Lee JH, Chang SE (2018) Clinicopathologic characteristics of early-onset Becker’s nevus in Korean children and adolescents. Int J Dermatol. 57:55–61. - PubMed
    1. Sood A, D’Souza P, Verma KK (1998) Becker’s naevus occurring at birth and in early childhood. Acta Derm Venereol. 78:311. - PubMed
    1. Fehr B, Panizzon RG, Schnyder UW (1991) Becker’s nevus and malignant melanoma. Dermatologica.182:77–80. - PubMed

Supplementary concepts