Wiping away debris between passes during laser surgery: is it really efficient or causing complications?

Although carbon dioxide laser skin resurfacing offers a controlled and predictive tissue ablation, it is not completely without complications, such as cobblestone-like appearance or scar formation. It has been supposed that these were the results of thermal loading on overlapped areas. In order to obtain a smoother surface, an experimental study dealing with the effect of wiping procedure between the sessions was carried out. Laser beams were applied in two sessions to the backs of 20 rats. Between the sessions, the debris was wiped away in half and left unwiped in the others. Despite a statistically higher ablation rate in the wiped group, its surface irregularity was statistically significant when compared to unwiped group. It is supposed that the amount of debris left on the surface has the regulatory role in laser application. Because laser beams can be absorbed more by untreated skipped areas and less by overlapped sites, the second pass can ensure a smoother surface. Considering both benefits and disadvantages, it is concluded that wiping vaporized debris every two passes is the most reliable laser treatment modality.