ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION Lasers were first applied for the treatment of pigmented lesions and tattoos by Goldman and colleagues in the early 1960s. Goldman and colleagues investigated both a normalmode and Q-switched ruby laser (QSRL). They found that the QSRL, using nanosecond-domain pulses, was more effective at clearing epidermal pigment and dark tattoo ink without producing the non-specific thermal necrosis observed with the millisecond-range pulses of the normalmode ruby laser. Others soon confirmed these early results, butwork on theQSRLwas then abandoned for some 15 years, while attention was focused on the development of the argon and carbon dioxide (CO2) lasers.
