Comparison of Long-Pulsed, Q-Switched & Pico lasers:
Some principle of Light and some applications:
The image shows light pass through prism and what we can see visibly
Comparison of various wavelengths of QS & PS lasers:
In reality, it's sometime very tricky to judge actual colors of tattoos!
Pulse width/duration means cooking time or how long each laser beam is allowed to work on target (aka chromophore). In case of benign hyper-pigment removal/reduction, our target is melanin in melanosomes in epidermis or dermis (such cases as Nevus of Ota, Nevus of Hori as for examples). Pulse needs to match the size/diameter of the targets to avoid injury to adjacent tissue if it's too long.
Please note melanins can be found within melanosomes not only inside the skin cells (AKA keratinocytes) and hair shafts, but also melanosomes in melanocytes locating in the deepest layer of epidermis (stratum basale) and dermis.
Thus complication can happen. For examples:
-- Damaged melanocytes may cause temporary or permanent hypo-pigmentation of the nearby keratinocytes. Mitosis of melanocytes or differentiation of the precursors of melanocytes which occur naturally may later solve this skin lightening problem.
-- QS and PS lasers can bleach dark hair. They won't do anything to your hairs except bleaching hair colours. Both the amount, density & size of your hairs will remain exactly the same. The follicles will remain intact & but dark melanin has been destroyed. Remember! once hair get bleached, any current light-based therapy (diode, IPL or long-pulsed laser) won't be effective for destroying the follicles of lighter hairs!
Other links:
- VDO regarding Laser Tattoo Removal - picosecond vs nanosecond lasers
- Different viewpoint from another MD
- VDO regarding Pico vs Q-Switch lasers in actions (see minute 3:34 – 3:56 of the VDO)
Food for thought:
Your white blood cells (= WBCs, immune cells, or leukocytes) are unable to destroy or remove tattoo inks bigger than WBCs themselves.
Once laser shatters tattoo inks into pieces smaller than WBCs, then ink fragments are transported throughout our body via lymphatic system before they are removed out of our body. Now my questions are:
- tattoo inks, that used to stay localised or stay in place in your body (mostly in the upper dermis) after you get tattooed
- but after they have been broken down by laser into smaller pieces that your WBCs can relocate them & your lymphatic system carry them throughout your body
- Will your body be able to get rid all of these inks out of your body completely? Will some of these inks spread throughout your body, accumulate in your body, & cause some health issues down the line?
The tattoo ink itself is not regulated and can contain heavy metal, lead & etc.
Think before you ink!
- VDO of our WBCs fight microorganisms bigger than themselves
- VDO of our WBCs engulf smaller microorganisms
Please note this article is only part of the following main article: Laser Removal/Reduction of Benign Hyper-Pigments
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