The man who brought us laser hair
removal has aimed his laser at a much more formidable
opponent: fat. Dermatologist Dr Rox R Anderson has pinpointed
three ideal wavelengths where laser beams can target,
heat and melt away lipid-rich cells that cause pimples,
cellulite and maybe even atherosclerosis.
"I'm interested in a cure for acne,
and I think we can do that with this technology," explains
Dr Anderson, who's based at the Wellman Center for Photomedicine
at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr Anderson hopes
to use the fat-busting laser to target the sebaceous
glands that lie just below the surface of the skin and
essentially melt away pimples. He's also convinced the
technology could be taken further and used as an adjunct
to liposuction and, most significantly, to destroy the
fatty atherosclerotic plaques that lead to millions
of heart attacks and strokes each year. His data was
presented at the American Society for Laser Medicine
and Surgery's Annual Meeting in Boston on April 9.
FAT
BUSTERS
Dr Anderson's work was made possible thanks to a mile-long,
free-electron laser — a monstrously powerful machine
that produces laser light at adjustable wavelengths
— housed at the US Department of Energy's Jefferson
Lab in Virginia. "There's no other source that has the
combination of power and tunability," says Dr Anderson.
"It worked like a charm."
In the first part of the experiment,
the team exposed human fat tissue that was discarded
after surgery to a variety of wavelengths in the infrared
laser light spectrum and found three — 915, 1210
and 1720 nm — where fat cells were preferentially
targeted. They then tested these specific wavelengths
on fresh pig skin samples, and found that the 1210 beam
preferentially heated pig fat up to 1cm deep without
damaging the overlying skin.
"It's a very exciting discovery,"
says Dr Jaggi Rao, a dermatologist and laser surgeon
in Calgary.
Laser light has long been harnessed
at specific wavelengths for a variety of applications
— aside from hair removal, patients can have birthmarks,
tattoos, brown spots and blood vessels zapped off. "Laser
technologies are quicker and safer than cutting," says
Dr Rao. "Patients literally walk right out of the office."
Dr Anderson isn't the first to
go after fat cells as the next logical target, but as
Dr Rao explains, earlier attempts haven't quite panned
out. "There are a few laser devices that are being used
on patients, but they're not terribly successful. If
this is shown to work in good, solid clinical trials,
I think it would be wildly popular." Dr Anderson says
his team plans to get started on human trials in no
more than a year.
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