A comparison of pulsed and continuous wave carbon dioxide laser interactions with cutaneous tissue

We measured the acute tissue shrinkage using a continuous wave and a pulsed carbon dioxide laser for skin resurfacing. The tissue shrinkage was measured on in vitro, non-facial human skin samples. We also examined the amount of thermal damage in the skin acutely and three days after laser resurfacing using a piglet model. The pulsed laser used a 100 mu s pulse and delivered 500 mi in a 3 x 3 mm square spot. The continuous wave laser was delivered with a hand piece that moved the beam in a 3.4 mm spiral during the 0.2 s irradiation. The continuous wave laser was set to 8W. As expected, the pulsed laser showed less thermal damage acutely and after three days when compared to the continuous wave laser. However, the pulsed laser also showed more tissue shrinkage than was observed with the continuous wave laser. These results imply that the tissue shrinkage from carbon dioxide laser resurfacing may be related to the tissue removal more than collagen denaturation.