In Vivo Identification of Skin Photodamage Induced by Fractional CO2 and Picosecond Nd:YAG Lasers with Optical Coherence Tomography
Journal
Diagnostics
Journal Volume
12
Journal Issue
4
Date Issued
2022
Author(s)
Abstract
Fractional laser treatment is commonly used for dermatological applications, enabling effective induction of collagen regeneration and significantly reducing recovery time. However, it is challenging to observe laser-induced photodamage beneath the tissue surface in vivo, making the non-invasive evaluation of treatment outcomes difficult. For in vivo real-time study of the photo-damage induced by fractional pulsed CO2 and Nd:YAG lasers commonly utilized for clinical therapy, a portable spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) system was implemented for clinical studies. The photodamage caused by two lasers, including photothermal and photoacous-tic effects, was investigated using OCT, together with the correlation between photodamage and exposure energy. Additionally, to investigate the change in the optical properties of tissue due to photodamage, the attenuation coefficients and damaged areas of normal skin and laser-treated skin were estimated for comparison. Finally, the recovery of the exposed skin with both lasers was also compared using OCT. The results show that OCT can be a potential solution for in vivo investigation of laser-induced tissue damage and quantitative evaluation. © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
Subjects
diagnosis; optical coherence tomography; photodamage; skin; therapy
Type
journal article