Loading...
FREE SHIPPING | 3-YEAR WARRANTY ON ALL MACHINES
Loading...
Selective photothermolysis is the founding principle of modern laser therapy: by choosing the right wavelength and a pulse shorter than the target's cooling time, a laser can heat and destroy a specific target while leaving surrounding tissue unharmed.
Selective photothermolysis—literally ‘selective light-heat-destruction’—is the 1983 principle (Anderson & Parrish) that turned lasers from blunt instruments into precise medical tools. It states that a target can be selectively destroyed if three conditions are met.
First, the wavelength must be preferentially absorbed by the target chromophore (e.g. melanin in a hair follicle). Second, the pulse duration must be shorter than the target’s thermal relaxation time, so heat is confined and cannot spread to neighbours. Third, enough fluence must be delivered to raise the target to its destruction threshold. Satisfy all three and the energy cooks the target while the surrounding skin stays safe.
Almost every laser indication—hair removal, pigment, vessels, tattoo—is an application of this one idea. It is the reason ‘which laser’ is really a question of matching these three levers to the target and the patient’s skin type.
One idea underlies every laser treatment: right wavelength, short-enough pulse, sufficient dose—destroy the target, spare the rest.
Selective photothermolysis is the founding principle of laser medicine: matching wavelength, pulse duration and fluence to a target so it is destroyed while surrounding tissue is spared. It underpins laser hair removal, pigment, vascular and tattoo treatments.
