Evaluation of New Pulsed Laser For Dermatology

Laser treatment of vascular skin lesions, such as port wine stains, has been attempted with amyriad of laser systems. Early therapeutic efforts resulted in unacceptable scarring that was attributedto unselective heating of tissue. Understanding the mechanisms of laser-tissue interactions lead to theclinical application of pulsed lasers which selectively target the vasculature and leave the surroundingtissue thermally unaffected. Despite these advancements, the optimum laser pulse duration has yet tobe investigated. Modeling predicts that a pulse width of several milliseconds would be ideal.Flashlamp-pumped dye lasers (pulse width = 0.4 ms) create pulses which are short to avoid bruising,or purpura, and are localized to the irradiated spot. Purpura is a result of vessel disruption and is not adesired clinical or cosmetic endpoint. Continuous wave lasers (exposure time > 30 ms) result inscarring due to overheating the vessel. We will develop a solid state laser capable of generating pulsesbetween the range of one and ten milliseconds. This laser is a modification of a surgical laser wecurrently manufactured. As part of this study, the laser's effectiveness at coagulating vessels in ananimal model will be compared to that of the flashlamp-pumped system.