Abstract: Photodynamic therapy (PDT) was firstly applied for treating port-wine stain (PWS) in the 1990s in China. PDT is composed of two major factors, photo sensitizer and excitation light source. PDT can kill cells directly, destroy vessels of le-sions, trigger apoptosis and play a role in immunoregulation by its phototoxic effect. It is currently used for the treatment of skin diseases, tumors in eyes, nose, mouth and respiratory, gastrointestinal, genitourinary tract, and other cavity owing to its high selectivity. In this article, PDT application and its research progress in the treatment of port-wine stain were reviewed.

Key words: Photodynamic therapy, Port-wine stain, Photo sensitizer, Excitation light source