Treatment of recurrent herpes simplex infection in the skin of the face with fotosan 630: a new type of photodynamic therapy

Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) is a member of the Alphaherpesviridae subfamily. The treatment of HSV infections is overall a topic therapy. Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is described in the literature for the treatment of HSV infections.There are no data on the treatment of the skin of face affected by HSV. The aim of this work is to document a case of HSV infection on the skin of cheek treated with a particular type of PDT. A device that emits diode light at a wavelength of 630 nm has been used, FotoSan 630 (CMS Dental, Copenhagen, Denmark), used in combination with a photosensitive reagent Toluidine blue. This was applied over the lesion and was made 10 cycles of 30 seconds of LED light with long tip, remaining at about 0.5 cm from it. At 2 days the lesion was almost healed. At 6 months follow up the patient did not show herpes simplex infection, either labial or cutaneous. The use of this device has documented also in periodontal and endodontic treatment. In our study PDT performed by Fotosan 630 nm is a successfull treatment to improve healing of HSV infection in the skin, and to prevent recurrence of it.