The combination of photodynamic therapy and fractional CO2 laser for mycobacterium marinum infection

•Mycobacterium marinum can cause cutaneous infection.•Two patients were successfully treated with photodynamic therapy.•Photodynamic therapy may be a new therapeutic option for treating. Mycobacterium marinum (M. marinum) can cause cutaneous infection. Therapy with active antibiotics for 3 to 6 months is one reasonable treatment. However, it is hard to provide an optimal balance with regard to efficacy and tolerability when the patient is complicated with other diseases. We reported two patients with cutaneous M. marinum infections who were successfully treated with 5-aminolevulinic acid-photodynamic therapy (5-ALA-PDT) combined with fractional CO2 laser ablation. The results of these two cases indicated that PDT in combination with fractional CO2 laser ablation of epidermis could be a therapeutic option for the treatment of skin infections caused by M. marinum.