Photodynamic Therapy (PDT)

Photodynamic Therapy (PDT)

Daylight Photodynamic Therapy (Daylight PDT) is offered as a treatment for facial and scalp sun damage (actinic keratoses) at myPRODERM.

It provides an in-clinic once-off alternative to using creams at home.

A medicated cream is applied to the skin and is absorbed preferentially by the sun-damaged skin cells. The cream is activated by exposure to sunlight and destroys the damaged skin cells in the outermost layer of the skin. This allows unaffected, normal healthy skin cells to grow over and replace the sun-damaged cells.

Generally, this treatment is very well tolerated. It is not painful but often feels a bit itchy, tingling or burning. Red blotches and crusts/scale are expected in the treated areas. The degree of this will depend on the amount of underlying sun damage.

Downtime for this procedure is 10 – 14 days. The scale and crust generally peaks around day 3 or 4. For people with severe sun damage, resolution can take up to 21 days.

myPRODERM offers Daylight Photodynamic Therapy at all three locations (Adelaide CBD, Mt Barker, Renmark) from October through to April.