“Laser” is an acronym that denotes “Light Amplification by the Stimulated Emission of Radiation.” The first laser was created by Theodore Maiman in 1960 of the Hughes Aircraft Research Laboratories. This ruby laser was based on Albert Einstein’s 1917 theory of stimulated emission of radiation. Lasers are unique in that they are artificially created beams of energy that posses intense brightness, can travel long distances, and can be harnessed in millions of ways in our everyday life.
There are presently over 1000 materials that can create a beam of light, but only around a dozen or two that are clinically used in medicine or aesthetic applications. Laser light can be a visible or an invisible form of energy. Lasers can be in the ultraviolet, visible, or infrared bands of light that make up the electromagnetic spectrum of energy. This specialized light is made up of tiny particles of energy know as photons. Photons travel in waves called waveforms and make up the various types of energy that we know of today. Lasers can be created from a variety of sources and are usually named after its components that create this specialized light energy. Common sources or “mediums” are gases, crystals, liquid, and diodes.
Most common medical lasers are heat driven in nature and are absorbed by a specific entity or target in the body. This absorption of the laser energy by a particular target or chromophore is usually conducted towards blood, water, pigment, or collagen. In the medical and surgical practice, lasers can be used to cut and vaporize tissue and coagulate or seal blood vessels. Lasers can also be pulsed at very high megawatt powers and be emitted at a billionth of a second pulses to create a shock wave effect to break up stones in the bladder and ureters. It also can be used photoacoustically in ophthalmology to open clouded membranes in the eye and also break up tattoo dye for tattoo removal.
In aesthetic and cosmetic practices, the theory of “selective photothermolysis” is commonly utilized. It is this concept that through the selection of a specific band of light, (time the light is delivered to the tissue), and energy level, various pigmented lesions, acne, scars, unwanted hair, blood vessels, and much more can be treated without thermal injury to the surrounding tissue.
Research and experimental studies are constantly advancing the development of new wavelengths of laser light in the medical and cosmetic field. New laser light delivery systems using fiberoptics are on the nanometer (billionth of a meter) scale and are now being researched in the treatment of a variety of diseases and medical conditions. It is just a matter of time until laser light will become a common tool in the fight against cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease.
(Updated June 3, 2010)
previous
### |
