Laser dermablator and dermablation

A surgical system for removing skin comprising:

• a pulsed light source capable of delivering a fluence F exceeding an ablation threshold fluence Fth;
• and
• a control mechanism, operatively coupled to the light source, for directing light from the light source to locations on the skin and determining if a skin location has been ablated to a desired depth, the control mechanism further comprising:
• one or more rotatable mirrors, the mirrors positioned in the light source path for controllably scanning the light from the light source;
• one or more motors, coupled to the mirrors, for angularly rotating and feeding back angular positions of the one or more mirrors;
• and
• a computer, coupled to the light source and the motors for controlling the motors and selectively shuttering the light source at a given location on the skin.

A surgical system for removing skin, comprising:

• a pulsed light source capable of delivering a fluence F exceeding an ablation threshold fluence Fth;
• a second light source illuminating the skin;
• a control mechanism, coupled to the pulsed light source for directing light from the pulsed light source to locations on the skin and controllably ablating a skin location to a desired depth;
• a feedback mechanism coupled to the control mechanism, the feedback mechanism comprising at least one photodetector having an input and an output the input receiving light from the second light source that is scattered/reflected/fluoresced by the skin, and the output providing a feedback signal to the control mechanism, which is adapted for detecting a change in the spectral shape or brightness of the light scattered/reflected/fluoresced by the skin and causing the pulsed light source to be inhibited at a given skin location, in response to the change;
• and
• an active mask array, coupled to the feedback mechanism, for selectively shuttering the light source at a given location that has been ablated to the desired depth.

A surgical robot/laser system for removing skin, comprising:

• a pulsed light source capable of delivering a fluence F exceeding an ablation threshold fluence Fth;
• a control mechanism, operatively coupled to the pulsed light source, for directing light from the pulsed light source to locations on the skin and determining if a skin location has been ablated to a desired depth;
• a camera for visualizing an image of the locations on the skin;
• and
• a computer, coupled to the camera, the computer having an output for displaying and an input for designating the locations of the skin to which the laser is directed.

A surgical system for removing skin, comprising:

• a pulsed light source capable of delivering a fluence F exceeding an ablation threshold fluence Fth;
• and
• a control mechanism, operatively coupled to the pulsed light source, for directing light from the pulsed light source to locations on the skin and determining if a skin location has been ablated to a desired depth, the control mechanism including an alignment mechanism, further comprising:
• a visible laser, said laser emitting a beam illuminating the skin at a location coincident with the ablating light;
• means for scanning the beam across the locations on the skin;
• and
• means for recording scanned beam positions, coupled to said means for scanning, for subsequent automatic scan of an ablating light source across the locations on the skin.

In a surgical system including an ArF laser capable of delivering a fluence F exceeding an ablation threshold fluence Fth, a method for removing skin comprising the steps of:

• directing light from the ArF laser to locations on the skin;
• controllably determining if a skin location has been ablated to a desired depth;
• providing a coagulating light source having a different wavelength than the ArF laser and a relatively high blood absorption characteristic;
• detecting the appearance of blood at a given skin location;
• and
• switching to the coagulating light source.

In a surgical system including a pulsed light source capable of delivering a fluence F exceeding an ablation threshold fluence Fth, a method for removing skin, comprising the steps of:

• directing light from the pulsed light source to locations on the skin;
• receiving, from a second light source, light that is scattered/reflected/fluoresced by the skin;
• detecting a change in a spectral shape or brightness of the light scattered/reflected/fluoresced by the skin;
• and
• controllably ablating a given skin location to a desired depth by inhibiting the pulsed light source at the given location. in response to the change, the inhibiting including the step of selectively shuttering the pulsed light source at a given skin location that has been ablated to the desired depth.

In a surgical system including a laser capable of delivering a fluence F exceeding an ablation threshold fluence Fth, a method for removing skin, comprising the steps of:

• directing light from the laser to locations on the skin;
• controllably determining if a skin location has been ablated to a desired depth;
• visualizing an image of the locations on the skin;
• and
• designating and displaying the locations of the skin to which the laser is directed.

In a surgical system including an ablating light source capable of delivering a fluence F exceeding an ablation threshold fluence Fth, a method for removing skin, comprising the steps of:

• directing light from the ablating light source to locations on the skin;
• controllably determining if a skin location has been ablated to a desired depth;
• illuminating the skin with a beam from a visible laser at a location coincident with the ablating light;
• scanning the beam across the locations on the skin;
• recording scanned beam positions, in response to said scanning step;
• and
• automatically scanning the ablating light source across the locations on the skin, in response to said recording step.