Laser resurfacing of skin flaps: an experimental comparison of three different lasers

Objective. The influence of Coherent Ultrapulse, TruPulse and Erbium: YAG laser skin resurfacing on survival of the skin flaps when performed simultaneously was evaluated. Material and methods. We used twelve female Yucatan minipigs in the study. Skin flaps including paniculus carnosus were raised on the animals’ back. The flaps were sutured into the defect under tension. We designed 4 experimental groups: Control-Flaps only, Group 2-Flaps + 4 immediate TruPulse laser passes, Group 3-Flaps + 2 immediate Coherent UltraPulse laser passes, Group 4-Flaps – immediate 50J/cm2 total fluence with Erbium: YAG laser. Results. Flap survival in Control group was 98.8%. There was no flap in Group 2 with complete survival. Survival of the flaps in Group 2 (Tru-Pulse) ranged from 75-90%, with average flap survival area of 85.2%. In Group 3 (UltraPulse) all 24 flaps had some area of necrosis. Flap survival in Group 3 ranged from 75-95%, with an average of 85.6%. In Group 4 (Erbium: YAG) flap survival area ranged from 70-95%, with all 24 flaps with some area of necrosis, with average flap survival area of 87.3%. There is a significant statistical difference in flap survival area between groups 2, 3 and 4 versus Control (p<0.001). Conclusion. The results of our study suggest that laser resurfacing of skin flaps sutured under tension in the same operative session is detrimental for skin flap survival. We also found no significant difference in flap survival area between TruPulse, Coherent UltraPulse and Erbium: YAG laser treated flaps.