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George J. Hruza, MD; Jeffrey S. Dover, MD, FRCPC

Arch Dermatol. 1996;132(4):451-455.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

The zone of thermal damage can be reduced by applying the principle of selective photo thermolysis,⁸ which states that selective heating can be achieved by preferential laser light absorption and heat production in the target chromophore with heat being localized to the target by a pulse duration shorter than or equal to the thermal relaxation time (time for the target to cool by 63%) of the chromophore. The thermal relaxation time for the 20 to 30 µm thickness of water-containing tissue that absorbs the CO₂ laser light is less than 1 millisecond.⁹

To limit collateral thermal damage, the CO₂ laser has to be pulsed or scanned across the tissue with a tissue dwell time less than or equal to the thermal relaxation time (1 millisecond). In addition, sufficient energy has to be delivered in that short time to achievetissue vaporization with a single pulse or . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Author Affiliations
Washington University School of Medicine One Barnes Hospital Plaza, Suite 16411 St Louis, MO 63110; Boston, Mass

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