How Do Lasers Work?

Lasers are nothing but light. Light has a spectrum, and within that there is a visible spectrum which we have learnt as an acronym, VIBGYOR since our childhood days. When we filter out light into its individual colours ( meaning individual wavelength; because wavelength defines colour of light), we get specific lights, very simply known as LASER. Laser stands for Light amplification through stimulated emission of radiation. Though the word radiation is used, medical lasers do not emit radiation and are completely safe. The safety aspect, I will deal later. The word Laser is a wrong usage, the correct being LASER, since it is an acronym, but for simplicity, we use the former.

Basics of Lasers

Lasers are simply a single colour of light (or wavelength), specially selected by way of devices known as Laser chambers and filters. Thus we can wonder, why we need to select specific light. This is because lasers need to be specific. For example, if we want to act upon hair for hair removal, we target a structure known as melanocyte, and more specifically, melanin, which is the pigment in the melanocyte. This pigment responds to light at the wavelength of around 725 nm; thus if we can get a light at this wavelength, we would be able to selectively destroy melanin and the melanocyte, which is present in the hair root, and thus destroy the hair permanently. Because the skin and the other structures like blood cells are a different colour, they do not respond at this wavelength, and a laser at this wavelength, causes no harm to these structures, accounting for their specificity and their safety.

Lasers have been used for a number of indications like tattoo removal, correction of wrinkles, melasma reduction, skin rejuvenation, hair removal, photo rejuvenation, correction of stretch marks, birth mark removal and many others in the field of plastic surgery.

Please remember that when you choose a surgeon for laser surgery, he should be a plastic surgeon, please check his credentials, whether he has been trained in Laser science. It is very easy to perform lasers, any child can do that, what is important is to deal with any problems that can occur after lasers. One needs thorough knowledge to deal with these problems. Please do not go to a laser centre, just because it is cheaper. You should find out which laser they have, whether it is a specific laser for that machine. With medical science becoming increasingly commercial, a lot of surgeons do what they want, and sweet talk unsuspecting clients into wrong practices.

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