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Dynamic epidermal cooling in conjunction with laser‐induced photothermolysis of port wine stain blood vessels
Author(s) -
Nelson J. Stuart,
Milner Thomas E.,
Anvari Bahman,
Tanenbaum B. Samuel,
Svaasand Lars O.,
Kimel Sol
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
lasers in surgery and medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.888
H-Index - 112
eISSN - 1096-9101
pISSN - 0196-8092
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1096-9101(1996)19:2<224::aid-lsm15>3.0.co;2-6
Subject(s) - port wine stain , laser , materials science , stain , epidermis (zoology) , dye laser , port wine , biomedical engineering , absorption (acoustics) , optics , medicine , pathology , surgery , staining , anatomy , composite material , physics
When a cryogen spurt is applied to the skin surface for an appropriately short period of time (on the order of tens of milliseconds), the spatial distribution of cooling remains localized in the normal overlying epidermis, while leaving the temperature of the deeper port wine stain (PWS) blood vessels unchanged. Furthermore, cooling continues after pulsed laser exposure as cryogen remaining on the surface evaporates and removes heat deposited by light absorption in epidermal melanin. An additional advantage of dynamic cooling is a reduction in the level of pain and discomfort associated with flashlamp‐pumped pulsed dye laser therapy of PWS. Preliminary clinical studies and supporting theoretical calculations demonstrate the feasibility of selective epidermal cooling while achieving photothermolysis of blood vessels during pulsed laser treatment of PWS. © 1996 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.