Presidential Greeting - American Society for Laser Medicine and ...

Results: All patients were subjectively satisfied by FRM
treatment. Seventeen among 20 patients had good or excellent
improvement, 3 had moderate improvement. Without transient
bleeding or erythema, no serious adverse effects were found.
Conclusion: FRM enables the deep dermal fractional heating,
sparing the epidermis and upper dermis except the penetration
site of needle. FRM is very safe and powerful tool for the
treatment of periorbital wrinkle, especially dark and thick
skinned Asian people.
#60
BIPOLAR PARALLEL RADIOFREQUENCY FOR
REDUCTION DEPTH OF WRINKLES: A
PROSPECTIVE STUDY VISUALIZED BY COLORED
3D IMAGING SYSTEM
Katharina Russe-Wilflingseder, Elisabeth Russe
Plastische Chirurgie und Laserzentrum, Innsbruck, Austria
Background: Demand in treatments for wrinkle reduction
without downtime can be satisfying by using the thermal effects of
the bipolar parallel radiofrequency (RF) for skin tightening
induced by neocollagenesis.
Study: In this prospective study the results of improvement of
wrinkles after treatment with bipolar parallel RF were evaluated
by 3D visualization and measurement (face areas). Twenty-five
areas on different body sites of 10 patients were treated five times
at an interval of 1 week between first to second procedure and of 2
weeks between second through fifth. Different handpieces (small
25–65 J/cm 3 , 2 seconds, vacuum 1–2; medium 20–60 J/cm 3 ,2–
3 seconds, vacuum 2–3; large 10–20 J/cm 3 ,2–3seconds, vacuum
1–2) were used and adapted to treatment area. Small for thin skin
areas like periocular, medium for face, neck, hand and large for
upper arms, abdomen. Density, pulse duration, number of passes
used depended on handpiece, area and skin condition. An
integrated skin cooling controlled the emerging temperature
automatically to protect the epidermis. Improvement and side
effects were assessed independently by doctor and therapist.
Documentation and evaluation was done before and at week 4 and
12 after last treatment: Height and depth of wrinkles were
measured by a 3D imaging system; standardized photo
documentation was evaluated by therapist, doctor and
independent observer using a visual analog scale (VAS 1–100).
Patients rated wrinkle reduction, appearance of skin, overall
satisfaction using a VAS (1–100).
Results: Reduction of wrinkles improved over time. Better results
were verified at 3 months compared to one (P < 0.001) by all
evaluators. Patients rated mean improvement better (P < 0.003)
than the other evaluators. 3D false color pictures waviness
calculation showed a reduction of the maximum height of wrinkles
up to 31%. Results depended on body site.
Conclusion: Bipolar parallel radiofrequency is effective and safe
to reduce depth of wrinkles. The improvement is statistically
significant and increases up to 3 months.
#61
American Society for Laser Medicine and Surgery Abstracts 19
A NOVEL ENERGY ASSISTED LIPOLYSIS
APPROACH USING COMBINED RF AND LASER
TECHNOLOGY
Jason Pozner, Haim Epstein, Boris Vaynberg,
Ruthie Amir
Cleveland Clinic, Weston, FL; Syneron Yokneam Illit, Israel
Background: New energy based technologies are being
developed for effective subcutaneous fat removal with less
bleeding and minimal down time for the patient while easier,
faster and smoother to operate for the physician. According to our
theoretical model, laser energy is the best choice for opening the
channel in the tissue while the RF energy when used in a bi-polar
form is an optimal choice for volumetric heating around the
cannula allowing homogenous fat liquefaction. We investigated in
vivo the efficacy and safety of combined radiofrequency, laser
lipolysis and liposuction.
Study: An IRB approval was obtained in order to evaluate in vivo
the safety and efficacy of this new RF/laser approach.
Abdominoplasty patients (n ¼ 2) were infiltrated in a staged
approach with tumescent fluid. One-half of the abdomen was
treated with combined 940 nm CW Laser at 25 W and RF power
at 20 W while the other half was treated with SAL.
Skin temperature, number of hand strokes and percent
fat removed were evaluated as well as subjective ease of
treatment.
Results: The RF/laser treatment required significantly fewer
hand strokes to achieve equal amount of fat (3.7 vs. 4.6 strokes per
cc of fat) and resulted in increased fat extract (23%). The RF/laser
approach was faster and easier to use for the operating surgeon
especially in extremely fibrotic tissue (2.1 vs. 3.1 seconds per cc of
fat). There was no significant increase in skin surface temperature
during deep layer treatment. No adverse events or complications
occurred.
Conclusion: The human data support the efficacy and safety of
the combined RF and laser approach for subcutaneous fat
removal.
#62
FRACTIONAL BIPOLAR RADIOFREQUENCY
DELIVERED THROUGH A VACUUM-ASSISTED,
MICRONEEDLE ARRAY FOR THE TREATMENT
OF ACNE SCARRING—A PILOT STUDY
Girish Munavalli, Robert Anderson
Dermatology Laser and Vein Specialists Charlotte, NC;
Theravant Corporation, Pleasanton, CA
Background: Device treatment of acne scarring has historically
involved ablative laser resurfacing. Fractional resurfacing has
been shown to be effective with reduced downtime. However,
recent studies have shown prolonged erythema and postinflammatory
hyperpigmentation (PIH), especially in darker skin
types. A vacuum-assisted radiofrequency (RF) device was utilized
that spares the epidermis and precisely delivers RF in a fractional
pattern using microneedle array. Bipolar RF energy was delivered
to dermal depths of 800–1,000 mm, using 1 mm long, 6 4
microneedle array. Objectives were to show improvement in acne
scarring, while minimizing epidermal injury and the resulting
complications thereof.
Study: Twelve subjects (Fitzpatrick skin types II–V) with
moderate to severe acne scarring were recruited. The appearance
and distribution of the lesions involved the bilateral cheeks, and
was roughly equivalent in severity. Treatments were randomized
to one side, with contralateral side as control. Each patient
received four treatments (each treatment was three passes,
totalling 20 minutes) at 3- to 4-week intervals. Baseline and posttreatment
standardized photography was obtained. Unlabeled
baseline and 6-month photography were evaluated by a blinded,
non-treating physician assessor using a quartile grading scale to
denote improvement.