Page 85 - An Introduction to Laser Tattoo Removal

Chapter 2 – Fundamentals of Laser Tattoo Removal v1.0
However, in some systems the end of the spacer is not the ‘best’ position to locate the skin (see diagram below). This may be due to the manufacturer designing the spacer wrongly (which we have seen in some systems!) or the wrong lens being placed in the handpiece.
If the handpiece is held at the wrong distance from the skin surface then the spot size may correspond to the beam waist (the smallest possible focused beam diameter – see figure 40). As you will see in the ‘Fluence’ and ‘Power Density’ sections below this is not good.
Figure 41: The laser beam ‘waist’ is the point where the laser beam has the
smallest diameter, at some distance from the focussing lens. The waist is also known as the ‘focal point’.
Figure 40 shows up a potential problem, which can easily occur in clinical practice. Many lasers have ‘spacers’ (figure 39) which indicate the correct distance between the lens and the skin surface. The laser manufacturer’s engineers will have calculated the ‘optimum’ distance to generate a suitable spot diameter on the skin surface.
WARNING!!!
Many videos on YouTube show laser users holding their laser quite far from the skin. This is ridiculous! They can’t possibly know what spot size is being applied to the skin. If the beam focus is beyond the spacer distance, then the spot diameter will be smaller than recommended leading to higher fluences than desired.
Always use the spacers properly to ensure the proper application of the energy to the skin!!
Some laser suppliers and trainers recommend using their system so that an audible ‘cracking’ or ‘snapping’ sound can be heard when treating tattoos. This is just nonsense!! There is absolutely no need to hear anything.
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Chapter 2 LEVEL A Laser Tattoo Removal
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