Contact Cooling of the Skin

The 1999 study by Altshuler et al. focused on developing a computational model for contact precooling of the skin to minimize epidermal damage during laser procedures like hair removal. The model simulated the skin as a multilayer structure in contact with a cold sapphire plate, and the study aimed to determine optimal cooling parameters. It involved direct skin temperature measurements during cooling with temperatures ranging from +10 to -30 °C. The findings indicated that the basal layer temperature could drop significantly within 1 second of contact, while deeper layers showed minimal temperature decrease. The study concluded that selective epidermal cooling is achievable with minimal impact on deeper hair follicle structures, and that the precooling process should end when the basal layer's cooling rate slows sufficiently. The study's results are important for enhancing the safety and efficacy of laser treatments by controlling epidermal temperature. However, the document does not provide specific numerical values for the number of participants or subjects, as it is focused on physical and mathematical modeling rather than clinical trials.