Skin welding with a combination of 980 nm and 1064 nm lasers

Skin welding with a combination of 1064 nm and 980 nm diode lasers, which's the first-time discuss in the literature, was performed in this study. The long-time effect of laser skin welding was investigated through macroscopic and microscopic examinations as well as tensile strength tests at different time after the welding, comparing with that of conventional suturing. At the same time, the temperature of rat skin tissue during laser-welding was measured in vivo with a thermo-couple temperature measurement in order to analysis the relation between the effect of tissue welding and tissue temperature. Using a power density of 15.92 W/cm² with power of 0.5 W in continuous wave mode and exposure time of 5 seconds per spot for both 980 nm and 1064 nm lasers, it's found that laser tissue welding yielded more effective closure and healing than conventional suturing technique that with faster recovery, better apposition of tissue, less tissue interaction and tighter closure. As a result, tissue welding with a combination of two near-infrared lasers is an effective method for wound closure, and further investigations are in progress for clinical use.