EFFECTS OF RUBY LASER LIGHT ON CUTANEOUS PIGMENTATION

DISORDERS OF CUTANEOUS HYPERPIGMENTATION ARE A COMMON PROBLEM CAUSING SUBSTANTIAL MORBIDITY WHICH RANGES FROM COSMETIC EMBARASSMENT TO SOCIAL DISGRACE, DEPENDING ON THE EXTENT OF PIGMENTATION AND ON RACIAL EXTRACTION. AT LEAST 5% OF PATIENT VISITS TO DERMATOLOGISTS ARE FOR THESE DISORDERS FOR WHICH THERE IS NO ADEQUATE THERAPY. DISORDERSWITH INCREASED EPIDERMAL PIGMENTATION, SUCH AS LENTIGINES (LIVER OR SUN SPOTS) AND EPHELIDES (FRECKLES) ARE MOST OFTEN TREATED ONLY MODERATELY EFFECTIVELY WITH CRYOTHERAPY. RESULTS OF TREATMENT OF DERMAL HYPERPIGMENTATION DISORDERS SUCH AS POST-INFLAMMATORY HYPERPIGMENTATION AND TATTOOS ARE OFTEN WORSE THAN THE INITIAL DISEASE. EFFECTIVE THERAPY IS SORELY NEEDED. LASER APPLICATIONS, INC. AND THE MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL HAVE CONDUCTED PRELIMINARY STUDIES WITH THE Q-SWITCHED RUBY LASER WHICH HASDEMONSTRATED SELECTIVE DAMAGE OF BOTH EPIDERMAL AND DERMAL PIGMENT IN PIGMENTED GUINEA PIGS LEADING TO TEMPORARY HYPOPIGMENTATION. LASER APPLICATIONS, INC. PLANS TO FURTHERINVESTIGATE THIS EFFECT BOTH IN ANIMAL MODELS AND IN HUMAN SKIN. SPECIFICALLY, THE EFFECTS OF Q-SWITCHED RUBY LASER LIGHT WILL BE STUDIED IN PIGMENTED GUINEA PIGS, IN TATTOOED ALBINO GUINEA PIGS, IN HUMAN SUBJECTS WITH NORMAL CUTANEOUS PIGMENTATION, AND IN HUMAN SUBJECTS WITH INCREASED EPIDERMAL PIGMENTATION. WE ALSO PLAN TO OPTIMIZE THE LASER OPERATING PARAMETERS OF BEAM UNIFORMITY, PULSE TO PULSE ENERGY STABILITY, Q-SWITCH LONGEVITY AND BEAM TRANSMISSION THROUGH FIBEROPTICS. IF SUCCESSFUL, LASER APPLICATIONS, INC. WILL EXTEND THE STUDIES TO HUMANS WITH DERMAL HYPERPIGMENTATION AND WILL PURSUE THE DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF A CLINICAL LASER SYSTEM IN PHASE II.