Xtrac Excimer Laser
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The XTRAC® excimer laser is a treatment option for individuals suffering from psoriasis, vitiligo and other skin conditions. Using an intense beam of focused laser light, the XTRAC laser focuses on the area of concern, leaving healthy surrounding tissue alone.
The XTRAC excimer laser treatment system offers psoriasis sufferers many benefits, depending on the state of their conditions. Benefits include:
- Effective clearing, generally in 10 or fewer sessions.
- Provides long-lasting relief, typically providing several symptom-free months.
- Quick, easy, painless treatment. Sessions last only a few minutes.
- Relief without messy creams or a daily skin care regimen.
- Covered by most major insurance companies.
Psoriasis sufferers often notice that there is an improvement of their dry, scaly skin in the summer months, especially with exposure to ultraviolet light rays from the sun.
XTRAC Excimer Laser FAQs
The Mayo Clinic first introduced controlled artificial ultraviolet B (UVB) light to treat various skin diseases like psoriasis, eczema and vitiligo. Many of the early UVB systems were primitive, time-consuming and treated the whole body, including healthy skin. Today, UVB therapy continues to be a standard treatment. Conventional UVB phototherapy may be used alone or in conjunction with other topical medications such as coal tar or anthralin.
UVB phototherapy has been shown to provide relatively long remission times, but physicians wanted to find a way to deliver the UVB in a quick, precise way that was easy for the physician to use and easy for the patient to undergo.
The medical engineering and research teams at PhotoMedex worked with leading laser experts, including Dr. Rox Anderson at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, to develop the XTRAC excimer laser using a specific ray of light: 308nm, which is generated by a xenon chloride molecular energy chamber.
Using a carefully focused beam of light delivered through a sophisticated liquid light guide device, the XTRAC system allows the physician to use the high dose of monochromatic UVB right to the spot of the problem for fast, effective treatment while minimizing the risk of exposure to healthy skin.
Introduced in 2000, the XTRAC is the first FDA-cleared excimer laser system for the treatment of psoriasis. It is also cleared for treatment of vitiligo and atopic dermatitis.
Excimer lasers were introduced to the healthcare field in the early 1980s for refractive surgery to correct vision. In 1997, Dr. Lajos Kemeny at the University of Szeged, Hungary, published clinical results on the use of the excimer laser for psoriasis. In 1998, Drs. Rox Anderson and Charles Taylor, leading dermatologists at Harvard University, began investigating excimer laser technology for the treatment of skin conditions.
The dermatologists at Mass. General Hospital and other leading medical institutes have conducted and published numerous clinical studies demonstrating the safety and efficacy of the XTRAC laser for the treatment of psoriasis and other skin conditions.
Today, thousands of patients in the U.S. and internationally have benefited from treatment with the XTRAC laser. Numerous studies have shown the dramatic difference that 308nm laser light can make in enhancing patient outcomes, reducing diseased areas and improving quality of life.