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Laser and light-based therapies show a strong safety profile and reliable clinical efficacy without routinely provoking disease flares in patients with underlying inflammatory skin conditions.
A comprehensive analysis of 57 studies reveals that laser and light-based treatments are generally well-tolerated and yield consistent clinical improvements in appropriately chosen patients with inflammatory skin conditions.
Individuals living with chronic inflammatory skin disorders such as psoriasis, atopic dermatitis, lichen sclerosus, lichen planus pigmentosus, frontal fibrosing alopecia, and cutaneous sarcoidosis—have traditionally been denied cosmetic and procedural laser therapies. Clinicians have long avoided these interventions due to worries that thermal or light energy might trigger localized flares or stimulate the Koebner phenomenon. To build a clearer, evidence-based perspective, researchers performed a systematic review to assess the safety and performance of these technologies.
The team of investigators searched major medical databases, including PubMed, Embase, ClinicalTrials.gov, and Scopus, from database inception through March 1, 2026. The selection criteria were focused on adult patients diagnosed with the targeted inflammatory dermatoses who received laser or light-based interventions and had documented clinical outcomes and adverse events. In total, 57 studies representing over 900 patients were evaluated, with the most substantial evidence base centered on psoriasis and lichen sclerosus.
Favorable clinical responses across devices
Across the various device categories and conditions examined, the interventions consistently produced measurable clinical improvements. The strongest supporting data emerged from studies involving psoriasis and lichen sclerosus cohorts.
Mild and transient adverse events
The side effects that occurred were typically localized, mild, and short-lived. Commonly reported reactions included:
Severe adverse events were exceedingly rare, with only isolated reports of koebnerization or localized worsening of the underlying condition.
Clinical implications
The findings suggested that longstanding clinical prohibitions against using laser and light-based modalities in inflammatory skin conditions may be unnecessarily strict. For carefully selected individuals, these treatments appeared to be safe and did not inherently provoke disease exacerbation.
Lasers in Surgery and Medicine
Laser and Light-Based Therapies in Inflammatory Dermatoses: A Systematic Review of Safety, Efficacy, and Adverse Effects to Inform Cosmetic Use
Carli Tucci et al.
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