Q-switched (QS) lasers are the treatment modality of choice for tattoo removal. However the ability to achieve tattoo fading using multiple laser passes in a single office visit is limited.
When the Rapid Acoustic Pulse (RAP) device, an accessory to the QS laser, is applied for 1 minute after each laser tattoo removal pass, that additional effective laser passes can be immediately performed. Since multiple laser passes can be effectively performed in a single session, a tattoo that might take 10 office visits under the current standard of care to remove could be done in as little as two to three office visits using RAP.
The clinical report of this study was published recently in Lasers in Surgery and Medicine (LSM), the official journal of the American Society for Laser Medicine and Surgery Inc (ASLMS).
“Currently, removing a tattoo can take up to 5 to 15 laser sessions over a 1 to 2 year period. We were looking for a way to speed up the process by reducing the number of office visits required to remove a tattoo,” says Michael S. Kaminer, MD, who led the study, in a media release.
“A faster removal process will improve the laser tattoo removal experience and improve the ultimate satisfaction of both patients and clinicians,” adds Kaminer, Associate Clinical Professor of Dermatology, Yale Medical School, and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Medicine (Dermatology) at Brown Medical School.
The RAP device, applied as an accessory to the 1064 nm Nd:YAG QS laser, safely enables multiple QS laser treatments in a single office laser tattoo removal session by clearing the whitening caused by the previous QS laser pass. Enabling multiple QS laser passes results in a statistically significant increase in tattoo fading in a single office laser tattoo removal session compared to the clinical standard single?pass QS laser tattoo removal session, the release explains.
[Source: American Society for Laser Medicine and Surgery Inc]
