Laser is safe

Laser is safe

There are a lot of people who are opting for laser treatment instead of traditional surgery. But they are afraid of the side effects and many think that it would cause skin cancer in long term.

In recent days people are more interested in using lasers to treat sun damage, wrinkles, remove unwanted hairs, tattoos, scars, acne etc. Laser can work wonderfully to reverse sun damage and improve the appeared of mottled, rough, leathery looking skin. Lasers specifically targets particular spots of the skin. Pigment specific laser (QS ruby, QS Nd-YAG and QS alexandrite) remove brown spots.  A vascular specific laser such as Pulse Dye Laser (PDL) is used to treat broken blood vessels.  The light energy from these lasers actually remains superficially; it remains at the level of the skin. These lasers don’t cause DNA damage and they don’t cause DNA mutations. So that no chance of skin cancer due to laser treatment.

Lasers are very effective in treating wrinkles. These lasers can be ablative (it vaporizes the upper layer of the skin), such as CO2 or Erbium laser. Or it can be noablative, which is a resurfacing laser which eliminates wrinkles without any peeling of skin). Laser wrinkle has been performed for decades. There is no known link between laser hair removal and cancer of any type.

An intense beam of light is used to remove unwanted hairs in a process called photothermolysis. The heat of the laser is absorbed by pigment or melanin in the hair root, causing damage to the follicle, which stops future hair growth. The higher amount of melanin or the darker the hair, the more the light is absorbed and the more effective the hair removal. In general, laser hair removal is not as effective for those with white or grey hair as there is very little melanin to absorb the light. Laser hair removal has been safely performed in millions of people over many years now. Although rarely one might get temporary blistering or an infection or discoloration of the skin, it certainly has never been shown to cause any type of cancer.

None of the aforesaid lasers increase the chances of developing skin cancer.  As a matter of fact, some of the lasers are useful in treating pre-cancerous lesions, thus reducing the risk of developing skin cancer. Laser therapy uses high-intensity light to treat cancer and other illnesses. Lasers can be used to shrink or destroy tumors or precancerous growths. Lasers are most commonly used to treat superficial cancers (cancers on the surface of the body or the lining of internal organs) such as basal cell skin cancer and the very early stages of some cancers, such as cervical, penile, vaginal, vulvar, and non-small cell lung cancer.

Lasers also may be used to relieve certain symptoms of cancer, such as bleeding or obstruction. For example, lasers can be used to shrink or destroy a tumor that is blocking a patient’s trachea (windpipe) or esophagus. Lasers also can be used to remove colon polypsor tumors that are blocking the colon or stomach.

Laser therapy can be used alone, but most often it is combined with other treatments, such as surgery, chemotherapy, or radiation therapy. In addition, lasers can seal nerve endings to reduce pain after surgery and seal lymph vessels to reduce swelling and limit the spread of tumor cells. **

So there is no evidence or report found in medical science that laser treatment causes skin cancer. Although there might be few side effects after receiving specific laser treatment which can be dealt with appropriate care.

**Reference: https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/treatment/types/surgery/lasers-fact-sheet