Surface ablation of porcine skin tissue using nanosecond laser pulses at 1064 nm

A selective photothermolysis model has been widely used to explain skin tissue ablation by nanosecond laser pulses. Nevertheless, fundamental questions regarding the mechanism underlying the ablation process remain to be answered. We have investigated the surface ablation of fresh porcine skin tissue with 8 ns pulses at 1064 nm and its dependence on spot size. Histology analysis of the ablated tissue samples has been conducted. From these preliminary results we have plotted the ablation depth per pulse as a function of laser fluence at different spot sizes.