Human Skin Wound Welding Using 980 nm Diode Laser: an in Vitro Experimental Study

Laser assisted skin wound closure offers many distinct advantages over conventional closure techniques. The objective of this in vitro experimental study, carried out at the Institute of Laser for Postgraduate Studies/Baghdad University, was to determine the effectiveness of 980 nm diode laser in welding of human skin wounds. Multiple 3-4 cm long full thickness incisions in a specimen of human skin obtained from the discarded panniculus of an Abdominoplasty operation were tried to be laser welded using a 4 mm spot diameter laser beam from a 980 nm diode laser at different laser parameters and modes of action. The tensile strength at the weld site was analyzed experimentally. Although laser assisted wound welding did actually happen at many laser parameter settings, it was not strong enough to be clinically useful in living human beings. Despite the 980-nm diode laser system has proved to be an effective way of wound welding but it the weld was of low tensile strength to withstand living patient normal daily activity and movement. It can really shorten the operative time required to close a wound if proper laser parameters were used among an endless effective combinations of parameters. Further future studies are highly recommended on live human beings.