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What Are the Thermal Damage to Skin Signs/ Symptoms?

asked 8 months ago by TJackson in San Diego, CA
Latest answer by Ronald Shelton, MD
Question viewed 154 times
Tags: burn, damage, risk, safety

Can thermal damage to the skin from a laser treatment cause side effects like moderate burning and itching feelings on skin, sensitivity in affected tissue, and can it be controlled or minimized? I have consistently seen dermatology terms such as skin threshold, fluence, and bulk heating. How would these relate? if at all. Thanks for reading and hope you can help.

3 answers to What Are the Thermal Damage to Skin Signs/ Symptoms?

+2

Bulk Heating

Your question about thermal damage does not explain why you are asking the question. Is this just academic interest or are you concerned about something after laser treatment? Some heating of the dermis (such as bulk heating) can be beneficial as it can stimulate production of cytokines, and/or heat shock proteins which can lead to production of new collagen in your skin However over heating can produce a thermal injury which is undesirable as it can lead to healing problems. more
Paul Carniol, MD

Summit Facial Plastic Surgeon
+1

Thermal injury to the skin from laser treatment is beneficial and purposeful

Lasers, radiofrequency devices, plasma sources and ultrasound energy delivers heat into the dermis while often bypassing injury to the epidermis. Some wavelengths of lasers are better suited to be used for this purpose, as they are not absorbed preferentially by the epidermis thereby minimizing hyper and hypopigmentation risks, burns, etc. The heat that is generated in the dermis stimulates new collagen production and can help the body get rid of sundamaged dermal collagen that... more
Ronald Shelton, MD

Manhattan Dermatologist
+1

This depends on what laser you are using

The fluence is in joules / cm 2. It is the amount of enery per area you are delivering. If you want to attack a sun spot you want the energy to heat the spot but not the surrounding area. The thermal relaxation time is important as well. Thethermal relaxation time (tr) of a heated region of tissue is the time required for the peak temperature rise (Tpeak) in a heated region of tissue to decrease to 37% of the total rise. You won't need to know this as a patient though. Skins of damage... more
Philip Young, MD

Bellevue Facial Plastic Surgeon

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