A SOLID STATE LASER FOR VASCULAR LESION TREATMENT

THE TREATMENT OF PORTWINE STAINS, TELANGIECTASES AND OTHER MICROVASCULAR MALFORMATIONS OF THE SKIN HAS BEEN GREATLY IMPROVED BY LASER SURGERY. BETWEEN 1981-83, WORK BY ANDERSON AND COLLEAGUES IDENTIFIED AN APPROACH CALLED "SELECTIVE PHOTOTHERMOLYSIS", WHICH LED TO EFFECTIVE YET ESSENTAILLY NON-SCARRING TREATMENTS. THIS APPROACH HAS SINCE BEEN REFINED AND IS NOW A MATURE, WELL-ACCEPTED, AND ESSENTIALLY UNIQUE TREATMENT IN DERMATOLOGY. AT PRESENT, THE LASER SYSTEM BEST SATISFYING THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE TREATMENT IS A LONG-PULSE DYE LASER, OPERATING AT A WAVELENGTH OF 585 NM, THE YELLOW REGION OF THE VISIBLE SPECTRUM. THERE ARE A NUMBER OF PROBLEMS RELATED TO THE OPERATING CHARACTERISTICS AND USE OF THE DYE LASER. IN PHASE I, WE PLAN TO INVESTIGATE THE DEVELOPMENT OF SOLID STATE LASER SYSTEM THAT WOULD REPLACE CURRENT LASERS AND ELIMINATE SOME, IF NOT ALL OF THE DYE-LASER PROBLEMS. AN IMPROVED YELLOW SOURCE COULD MAKE VASCULAR-LESIONS TREATMENT MORE WIDELY AVAILABLE AND LOWER IN COST.