Question:
Are there any challenges associated with treating port wine stains, especially in terms of treating children?
Answer:
We have had a long experience in treating port wine stains, particularly in children. Due to some of the inherent risks in using general anesthesia in children under a year of age, we prefer to wait to treat a port wine stain until a child reaches 1 year old. Typically treatments consist of treatments with a laser known as the pulse dye laser which treats the abnormal blood vessels in the skin. In doing so, we are able to help lighten and prevent further darkening of the port wine stain as well as preventing a long term complication such as textural changes of the skin and the formation of nodules.
About the Author: Dr. Edwin Williams
Dr. Edwin Williams is a double board-certified facial plastic surgeon who founded The Williams Center in 1993. He has performed over 10,000 facial plastic surgery procedures and has pioneered the deep plane facelift. He served on the Board of Directors for the American Academy of Facial Plastic Surgery for over a decade, and served as President from 2015-2016. In 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019, Dr. Williams earned the Castle Connelly Top Doctors award in New York Facial Plastic Surgery.
Dr. Edwin F. Williams III attended Cornell University in Ithaca, New York where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in 1982. He began medical school at the State University of Buffalo School of Medicine and received his Doctor of Medicine in 1986.
Dr. Williams is actively involved in teaching facial plastic and reconstruction surgery to the residents of the Albany Medical Center and is former Chief of the Section of Facial and Plastic Reconstruction Surgery at Albany Medical Center where he received an academic appointment of Clinical Professor, Department of Surgery.