Editorial

Since the initial submission of this report in1993, there have been significant developments inthe field of laser dermatology. Continuing withFitzpatrick’s research (personal communication,San Diego, CA) on resurfacing of the skin, newdevelopments in laser instrumentation have in-cluded optical parametric oscillation (OPO) la-sers, changes in pulse duration, new protectiveglasses and progress in photodynamic therapy.Future rivalry continues between OPO lasers andthe new higher output junction diode lasers. Rich-ard Scheps, PhD, a laser physicist from the NavalResearch Development Administration, SanDiego, CA, has made important progress of laserdiagnostics in dermatology by the introduction ofoptical phase conjugation, range gateing, and linescanning (Goldman, Scheps abstract was pre-sented at the American Society of Laser Medicineand Surgery, San Diego, CA, April 1995). Accord-ing to Scheps, research was started on basal cellcancer two years ago. At the present time, newhappenings include holographic optical phase mi-croscope with 3-D imagery; range gateing, an ex-ceedingly fast electrical shutter discards reflectedbeams to produce a nondistorted image; and linescanning, making it possible to perform deeperpenetration in translucent tissues. These opticswere used initially in the turbid media of theocean and currently are being utilized for imagery

of subsurface biopsies of tissues in the dermatol-ogy field. New diagnostics in fluorescence nonsur-gical biopsies of tumors (Vo-Dinh, Overholt andPasyehour (Lasers in Dentistry, SPIE:1995;2394:191); current studies of the confocal scanning mi-croscopy diagnostics with vivid color and dynamicpictures by the R. Rox Anderson Group (Massa-chusetts General Hospital); and the early studiesof Gmitro and Aziz (University of Arizona), Mas-ters (Uniformed Services University of HealthSciences, Bethesda, MD), Goldman and O’Grady(Naval Medical Center, San Diego, CA), haveshown a great value for new vibrant dermatopa-thology. Masterson has suggested a larger slit in-stead of a small point and the use of the infraredlasers for deeper observation of the dermis. TheFuture of Laser Dermatology should also includethe mention of confocal scanning microscopy forthe question of sun exposure. Confocal scanningmicroscopy can detect early melanoma from ex-cessive sun exposure. This can be detected in theskin of people exposed to the sun. This would beimportant for people assigned to guard duty andto workers who work outdoors. We predict a greatfuture for laser dermatology as well as for thescience of laser medicine and surgery as a whole.

Leon Goldman, MD

Lasers in Surgery and Medicine 22:2 (1998)

© 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.