Er:YAG separates ablation and coagulation in aesthetic procedures
When using a CO2 laser in aesthetic and therapeutic applications, 40% of the laser’s energy ablates human tissue while the other 60% causes the tissue to coagulate. This effect is universal even when using different fluence and pulse parameters, because CO2 laser energy is not completely absorbed by water in the skin. Much of the energy is reflected and refracted within the skin and heats the tissue instead of vaporizing it. Scientists at Sciton (Palo Alto, CA) have demonstrated, however, that erbium yttrium aluminum garnet (Er:YAG) lasers—due to extremely efficient absorption by water in the skin—allow doctors to control the level of ablation and coagulation separately to get the desired application outcome.
Sciton’s tunable Er:YAG laser has adjustable fluence and pulse width for independent selection of the ratio of ablation and coagulation. Ablative pulses with a fluence of more than 1 J/cm2 can vaporize any depth of tissue from 4 to 200 μm per pass with extreme precision, leaving no thermal energy behind. If coagulation is desired, sub-ablative laser energy is delivered in a train of pulses with <1 J/cm2 energy that heat the tissue to a selectable depth without vaporizing it. For example, a supra-ablative pulse (well above the ablation threshold) can vaporize tissue to a controlled depth for removing wrinkles, lesions, and acne scars externally, followed by a train of coagulative sub-ablative pulses that raise the tissue temperature and internally stimulate the dermal collagen matrix to firm the skin and add resilience. Contact Rick Mendez at [email protected].
Gail Overton | Senior Editor (2004-2020)
Gail has more than 30 years of engineering, marketing, product management, and editorial experience in the photonics and optical communications industry. Before joining the staff at Laser Focus World in 2004, she held many product management and product marketing roles in the fiber-optics industry, most notably at Hughes (El Segundo, CA), GTE Labs (Waltham, MA), Corning (Corning, NY), Photon Kinetics (Beaverton, OR), and Newport Corporation (Irvine, CA). During her marketing career, Gail published articles in WDM Solutions and Sensors magazine and traveled internationally to conduct product and sales training. Gail received her BS degree in physics, with an emphasis in optics, from San Diego State University in San Diego, CA in May 1986.