Effect of temperature-controlled cooling on light-based skin treatments.

BACKGROUND A variety of cooling devices are used to provide safe and effective light based treatments of the skin. Despite the documented safety of such cooling devices, there is scant data on the epidermal effects of different cooling temperatures when used with such technologies. OBJECTIVE Determine the impact of changes in cooling temperatures on epidermal changes during broad based light source treatment. METHODS A human arm was treated with a 515 nm filtered broad based lights source using varying contact cooling temperatures. RESULTS Extensive epidermal crusting versus minimal epidermal crusting was noted with only an 8 degrees centigrade temperature change in contact cooling. CONCLUSION Not only does epidermal cooling lead to safer light based procedures, but small temperature changes in cooling can lead to the difference between minimal versus extensive epidermal changes.