Flash scanning the CO2 laser: a revival of the CO2 laser in plastic surgery

Elliot Lach M.D.

doi:10.1117/12.184900

7 September 1994 Flash scanning the CO2 laser: a revival of the CO2 laser in plastic surgery

Elliot Lach M.D.

Proceedings Volume 2128, Laser Surgery: Advanced Characterization, Therapeutics, and Systems IV; (1994) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.184900
Event: OE/LASE '94, 1994, Los Angeles, CA, United States

Abstract

The CO₂ laser has broad clinical application yet also presents a number of practical disadvantages. These drawbacks have limited the success and utilization of this laser in plastic surgery. Flashscanner technology has recently been used for char-free CO₂ laser surgery of the oropharynx, the external female genital tract, and perirectal mucosa. A commercially available optomechanical flashscanner unit `Swiftlase,' was adapted to a CO₂ laser and used for treatment in numerous plastic surgical applications. Conditions and situations that were treated in this study included generalized neurofibromatosis, tuberous sclerosis, rhinophyma, viral warts, breast reconstruction, and deepithelialization prior to microsurgery or local flap transfer and/or skin graft placement. There were no significant wound healing complications. Some patients previously sustained undue scarring from conventional CO₂ laser surgery. Conservative, primarily ablative CO₂ laser surgery with the Swiftlase has usefulness for treatment of patients in plastic surgery including those that were previously unsuccessfully treated.

Citation Download Citation

Elliot Lach M.D. "Flash scanning the CO2 laser: a revival of the CO2 laser in plastic surgery", Proc. SPIE 2128, Laser Surgery: Advanced Characterization, Therapeutics, and Systems IV, (7 September 1994); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.184900

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