Ablative fractional lasers (AFLs) are key modalities in the treatment of scars, rhytids, and photoaging. The technology is increasingly used in emerging medical interventions such as laser-assisted drug delivery. During AFL procedures, precise and predictable laser-tissue interactions are necessary.
This type of laser removes the thin outer layer of skin (epidermis) and heats the underlying skin (dermis), which stimulates the growth of collagen — a protein that improves skin firmness and texture.
A new preclinical study has examined how variations in skin hydration impact laser penetration depth. This is a crucial factor for the effectiveness and safety of laser treatments.
The study was led by Emily Wenande MD, PhD (Bispebjerg Hospital in Copenhagen, Denmark). She explains here interest in this subject: “During my PhD years, a question that kept my curiosity chronically piqued was how much skin hydration affected my results. Working on laser-assisted drug delivery with water-targeting lasers, I was all too familiar with the phenomenon that identical laser settings didn’t guarantee identical laser channel dimensions.”
Discovering how few studies were available on the topic left Wenande surprised. Overall, she discovered that the impact of skin hydration on patterns of thermal injury produced by ablative fractional lasers is a medical topic that has been insufficiently examined under standardized conditions.
Wenande’s new study investigated the impact of skin hydration on microchannel dimensions produced by a fractional carbon dioxide laser, determined by histological analysis and optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging.
She found that both hyperhydration and dehydration reduced depths of laser ablation and thermal impact compared to normohydrated control skin. The thermal effects of fractional carbon dioxide laser are relatively reproducible regardless of skin hydration under otherwise standard conditions.
However, in clinical contexts where skin hydration deviates significantly from healthy skin such as scars or dry, hyperkeratotic lesions, laser therapy might be more meaningfully affected.
Following the research, Dr. Wenande hopes to develop simple, efficacious, and tolerable treatments for premalignant and malignant skin lesions through her preclinical and clinical work.
The research has been published in the journal Lasers in Surgery and Medicine and it is titled “Impact of skin hydration on patterns of microthermal injury produced by fractional CO2 laser.”