"I don't want to ever say best option, but the easiest option,” Bhatia said. “People on anticoagulants, people on oxygen, there's always ways to think about, OK, where can I use something that doesn't involve surgery but still has efficacy of the tumor clearance? And I think this is where now we have a really good option in front of us.”
Bhatia said the indication gives dermatologists another nonsurgical route for patients whose lesions sit in difficult-to-treat locations, such as the pretibial surfaces, behind the ears, or near the eyelids, or who are poor surgical candidates because of anticoagulant or oxygen therapy. Mohs surgery remains the gold standard, he noted, alongside established options such as electrodesiccation and curettage and topical imiquimod.
He noted red-light PDT also treats the photo-damaged skin surrounding a tumor in addition to the lesion itself, a field effect he sees as an added benefit over surgical excision alone. Bhatia said he expects photodynamic therapy, delivered through the smaller BF-RhodoLED unit or the larger panel light, to become a standard fixture across dermatology practice settings.
Editor’s note: This transcript has been edited for grammar and clarity using artificial intelligence tools.
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