Page 62 - Blog Posts v1

Now let's look at a carbon dioxide laser. In this video I set the laser to a 10 Watt output. We can see it has a much more impressive effect on the tangerine skin - it vapourises the skin suface very easily.
In this situation, the CO2 laser is outputting 10 Watts "continuously" - these are not pulses. So this laser is delivering 10 Joules of energy in every second, continuously.
Conclusion
We can clearly see from the above videos that there is a massive difference between average and peak powers - they are two completely different things. They should not be confused. As I mentioned in yesterday's post, it is important to understand this difference when considering the purchase of a laser.
Do not be duped into thinking that a stated (or claimed) power is the 'average', when it is clearly the 'peak' power. And this may, or may not, have much effect in skin treatments...
Hope this all helps a bit, Mike.
Mike’s Blog Posts 62