Why can some patients see the effect of laser treatment for pigmentation in one month, while others need to wait for up to three months in clinical practice?
This is because the depth of the skin layer where the pigmentation is located is different and the metabolic absorption mechanism after laser treatment is different, resulting in differences in the time of treatment effect manifestation.
Epidermis
In the epidermal layer (Figure 1), the dispersed pigmentation is carried away by the metabolism of epidermal cells and usually takes one month. A normal newborn skin cell is born through the basal layer, passing through the spinous layer and granular layer, pushing upwards layer by layer, gradually losing moisture, and then forming the stratum corneum at the outermost part of the epidermal layer, which falls off and completes the metabolic cycle, usually within one month (about 28 days). Of course, if the epidermis forms scabs, it usually takes about a week for the scabs to fall off, which can demonstrate the effect.
Genuine leather
In the dermis layer (Figure 2), the dispersed pigmentation is the result of phagocytic processing by phagocytic cells (Figure 3), which usually takes 3 months. Phagocytes engulf dispersed pigments (melanin), which enter the bloodstream through the lymphatic system and are eventually metabolized and excreted in the liver.
Principles
We would like to supplement the principle of “selective photothermal therapy” for laser treatment of pigmentation (Figure 4). Targeting melanin in the skin, the laser beam is absorbed by melanin,the accumulated thermal effect of the laser instantly produces a photothermal effect, shattering pigment particles and preventing damage to surrounding normal tissues, achieving a safe and effective therapeutic effect.
