Laser Effects on Skin Melanin

Abstract

Melanin is investigated as a pigment that is responsible for colorization in human skin. The color of human skin varies from dark brown to nearly colorless “pinkish white”. The amount of skin melanin in the individual skin depends on both genetic and environmental factors. This offers some protection against the damaging effects of ultraviolet radiation. For the studies of laser effects on the skin melanin, the suitable sample is chosen depends on the availability for getting the sample and also the existence of skin melanin on that sample. Therefore, the skin of laboratory rat is used as an experimental sample. Carbon dioxide laser is used as a source of radiation in this study because of its 10.6μm of wavelength which has an ability to penetrate effectively on soft tissue that contains 90% of water. The rat skin is exposed to carbon dioxide laser “CO2 laser” radiation and any changes on the skin is observed and analyzed. After the exposure, the pieces of normal and exposed skin are preserved. In order to go through the sample, histological method is carried out to make the standard slides for examination under the compound light microscope. The images obtained on the both skin sample the normal and the exposed skin show that there are changes in both skin structures which can be seen clearly under the microscope lenses. These changes contributed by the interaction of the skin cells to the heat and energy produced by the carbon dioxide laser “CO2 laser” during the exposure time.