SCIENCE / MEDICINE : Lasers Shed Light on Skin

Examining human skin with lasers shows dramatic differences between sun-damaged skin and undamaged skin, and the technique may hold promise for skin disease diagnosis and evaluation of so-called anti-aging creams, according to Dr. David Laffell, a fellow in microsurgery and lecturer in dermatology at the University of Michigan School of Medicine in Ann Arbor.

Laffell said a low-power, painless laser, similar to that used at grocery checkout counters, was shined on areas of patients’ bodies for a few seconds, causing their skin to fluoresce, or emit light in specific patterns.

The light patterns were picked up by a probe that channeled it through a fiber optic cable. From there the patterns were directed through a spectrograph that broke the light into a curve and shipped it into a computer, where it was stored and analyzed. Laffell and Dr. Lawrence Deckelbaum of Yale University then analyzed the results.

“From this technique it’s clear that skin that has been exposed to the sun, such as someone who has spent a lot of time at the beach . . . has destruction of the skin in the dermis, the second layer of the skin,” said Laffell, who conducted the research last year while at Yale. The study, conducted on people of various ages, showed damage undetectable by the naked eye.