Page 66 - LASERS & IPLS IN MEDICAL/AESTHETIC APPLICATIONS

Chapter 1 – Fundamentals of Medical/Aesthetic Lasers and IPLs v1.1
Pulse Trains
● Pulsed lasers and IPL systems may generate either single or multiple pulses every time the trigger is pulled.
● With multiple pulsed units a ‘train’ of pulses will be emitted. This is important to understand as it can affect treatment outcomes significantly.
Single Pulsed Systems
● Many systems, lasers and IPLs, generate single pulses when fired. The energy within these pulses is usually sufficient to obtain the desired effect.
Max Energy
Full pulsewidth
(or pulse duration, or pulse length)
time
Figure 35: A single laser pulse of energy
● In most systems the pulse duration is in the region of milliseconds, but some systems can be configured to output hundreds of milliseconds.
● As with the continuous systems some clinical treatments are better served by shorter pulses of energy rather than a long, continuous pulse.
● Again, due to the nature of the design of these systems, single pulsed devices generally require a certain period of time between pulses. This can be anything from 0.1 to 3 seconds. This is the time the device needs to recharge, to prepare for the next pulse.
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Chapter 1 LEVEL A Fundamentals of Lasers/IPLs
© The Laser-IPL Guys 2021
Pulse energy (Joules)