Background: Pilonidal disease is foreign body reactions accompanied by chronic inflammation that most commonly arises in the hair follicles of the natal cleft or other hair-bearing areas. Today, surgical intervention remains the treatment of choice. But surgical treatment is an invasive method with a high failure rate and recurrence.
Objectives: The authors' objective was to assess the efficacy of intense pulsed light (IPL) device on pilonidal disease.
Material and methods: This case series study was carried out between 2008 and 2012 on patients with pilonidal sinus in Qazvin university of Iran. All patients received 6 session treatments with IPL hair removal with 4-6 weeks interval until most of the hair was removed. This was repeated 2.5 ± 0.3 years after treatment. In cases with acute phase pilonidal sinus histopathological examination was done.
Results: IPL hair removal procedure was performed on 30 patients with their ages ranging from 16 to 41 years, with a mean (SD) of 23.1 (6.2) years. In this study 13 patients were presented with acute and 6 patients were presented with chronic phase. 11 patients had a positive history of one surgical treatment and presented recurrences. The overall recurrence rate after IPL treatment in this study was seen in 4 (13.3%) patients. The histopathological examination of our study showed that the hair fragments create a foreign body type granulomatous inflammatory reaction. This process could be triggering factor of the disease.
Conclusions: IPL hair removal in affected area could be an alternative treatment to surgery or a choice treatment post surgery to decrease recurrence rate.