Day-light photodynamic therapy (DL-PDT) was proved to be effective, better tolerated and nearly painless compared with red-light photodynamic therapy (RL-PDT) in actinic keratosis (AK) patients in China. But no study has compared the recurrence rates of these two methods.

A prospective cohort study was conducted to compare the recurrence rate of DL-PDT and RL-PDT during a five-year follow-up.

A total of 55 patients were finally included, with 24 patients in the DL-PDT group and 31 patients in the RL-PDT group. The overall recurrence rate in the DL-PDT group was significantly higher than that in the RL-PDT group (62.50 % vs. 9.68 %, P<0.05).

The recurrence rate of DL-PDT was significantly higher than that of RL-PDT.

Actinic keratosis

Photodynamic therapy

Recurrence rate

Daylight

Daylight PDT

© 2025 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.