Objective assessments of port wine stains: response to temperature change

Three objective measurements were made in 11 patients with facial port wine stains and in five controls. Laser Doppler flowmetry, reflectance spectrophotometry and skin surface temperature were all significantly elevated in the port wine stains compared with the normal contralateral cheeks and control skin (P less than 0.05). Changes in skin blood flow and temperature after local heating and cooling of the skin were similar at all sites assessed and were not associated with significant changes in reflectance spectrophotometry, the parameter which correlated most closely with skin colour.