Infrared imaging of CO2 laser resurfacing : Cutaneous applications of lasers : dermatoly, plastic surgery, and tissue welding

The application of pulsed CO 2 lasers for skin resurfacing has been described by several authors. The procedure uses 30 μs to 1 ms laser pulses with pulse energies from 100 - 600 mJ to ablate skin for the purpose of smoothing skin irregularities: that is, wrinkle removal. The CO 2 laser has been selected because it ablates a limited layer of tissue (-10 μm at a radiant exposure of 5 J/cm 2 ) 4 and produce minimal thermal damage. The purpose of this study is to measure the surface temperature created during a resurfacing procedure and discuss the thermal implications of the measurements.