• General Information

Effects of laser on subdermal fat tissue

Dr Kota Ichikawa et al. Lasers in Surgery and Medicine 36:43-46 (2005)

Freshly excised human skin and subcutaneous cell tissue were irradiated with the pulsed Neodymium:YAG Deka laser; a 1064 nm laser at 40 Hz and 150 mJ and 100 microseconds-long pulses were used. Placing the cannula beneath the skin surface at approximately 1 cm, a 300 µm optical fibre is inserted and moved at a rate of 2 cm per second, repeating 3 times and a total duration of exposure of 3 seconds.

The results of the electron microscopy on the human sample after irradiation are evident:

The following appear:

1.- Cavities of about 300 µm thick, equal to the diameter of the fibre.
2.- Heat-coagulated collagen fibres.
3.- Destruction of cell membranes.
4.- Dispersion of lipids.
5.- Cavities also appear on the untreated tissue but there is no alteration to the adipocytes, they remain rounded and unwrinkled.

Photomicrography of the fat tissue after laser irradiation displays:

1.- Cavities.
2.- Degeneration of cell membranes that cannot be compared with the untreated tissue precisely.
3.- Tissue carbonisation.

Tests performed on the liver display haemorrhaging, vaporization, cavitation, heat necrosis and coagulation at a diameter of 1 mm, suggesting scattering and thermal conduction from the point of beam contact.