MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA-Medical-laser manufacturer Reliant Technologies is underwriting new research at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH; Cambridge, MA) to expand the science of fractional skin treatment and create new laser-based therapies for dermatological conditions. The company will invest more than $1 million in research funding over three years at MGH’s Wellman Center for Photomedicine.
“This funding will help us find new ways to optimize the benefits of fractional skin treatment technology for a broad array of skin conditions,” said Dieter Manstein of MGH and principal investigator for the fractional technology research grant. “We want to ensure that this therapy is widely available to help patients around the world.”
Reliant’s flagship product, the Fraxel SR laser, was developed through an earlier collaboration between MGH and Reliant. In 2004, Reliant was the first company to introduce an erbium fiber-laser product for fractional skin treatment, with technology licensed exclusively from MGH. Last month at the annual meeting of the American Society for Laser Medicine and Surgery, Reliant introduced a related product that utilizes a CO2 laser in conjunction with the company’s proprietary scanning delivery system to treat deeper wrinkles.
Laser treatments for dermatology typically involve using a laser to wound the skin and stimulate a natural healing process to produce new, healthy skin. The science of fractional skin treatment takes that process one step further by creating thousands of microscopic treatment zones in each square inch of skin. Treating the skin fractionally with patterns of microscopic laser spots-each of which is 70-100 µm in diameter-results in a unique wound-healing process. This is aided by the fact that each of these microthermal zones is surrounded by healthy tissue, and because many of the stem cells and melanocytes in the papillary dermis are spared. Fractional wound healing results in both rapid reepitheliazation of the epidermis as well as collagen remodeling to depths of 400-700 µm.
Dr. Rox Anderson, director of the Wellman Center and a member of the Harvard Medical School dermatology department faculty, describes the technology as “nothing short of a revolution for safe and effective treatments in dermatology. These tools are something the dermatology community has wanted for some time.”
In related news, Reliant closed a $15 million round of funding led by Delphi Ventures, a medical technology venture capital firm.
-Kathy Kincade