The Centre, P.C. - Plastic Surgery Blog

What is a Laser? Part 2 - Friday, December 12, 2008

Medicine and dentistry have found many uses for lasers. A laser's heat and precise focus can be controlled by the physician or dentist and directed to a treatment area for specific purposes. Some medical lasers are handheld and some are floor-standing, contained in hardware controlled by the physician. Some are part of a system containing a computer.

Directing a Laser's Heat

Lasers work on human tissue by delivering controlled heat. When that heat is directed to a blood vessel, the blood responds by clotting. This is a way of reducing bleeding during surgery, when blood vessels have been cut. It is also a way of treating spider veins and other vascular skin defects.

Laser heat can also vaporize human tissue in tiny amounts. The body contains a large amount of water, both inside cells and in between them. Laser heat is absorbed by the water where the laser is directed. This is how a LASIK laser works, by vaporizing strategic pieces of the cornea (clear front surface) to reshape it.

The laser heat can also be used to create a deliberate mild skin burn, and this is how laser skin resurfacing works. The skin surface responds by peeling off and the deeper layer called the dermis responds by producing new replacement cells. In aging skin this replacement process slows down but the laser treatment speeds it up and a fresher, more youthful look is the result.

Part 3 of What is a Laser? will discuss laser hair and tattoo removal. Please contact our cosmetic surgery office if you would like to schedule a personal consultation.