In Asia, especially in China, women think a dimple is an important part of a beautiful smiling face. The dimple can make them more confident. Unfortunately, not all women have dimples. Hence, with the development of the Chinese economy, there is an increasing demand among Chinese women for the creation of dimples. Most women hope the impairment of the operation will be slight and the period of recovery short so they can go to work as quickly as possible. Some of them want to have dimples only when they smile. The authors have used a new simple technique to form 56 dimples for 36 women. During the operation, they use a syringe needle to guide a monofilament nylon suture through the dermis and the active facial muscles (usually the buccinator). A sling is formed between the skin and the buccinator muscle. The knot is tied, and the dimple is created. After the operation, patients have been satisfied with the shape of the dimples. Furthermore, hematoma and infection never occurred. As a result, on the basis of their experience, the authors conclude that this technique is simple and easy to duplicate. Moreover, this technique has many benefits. For example, with this procedure, it is easy to adjust the bulk of dimples by adjusting the tension of the knot and the amount of dermis tissue the injection needle sutures. Because no tissue is resected, there is mild postoperative swelling. Consequently, patients can return to work or other activities 2 days after the operation.
Botulinum toxin type A could decrease the resistance to myocutaneous flap expansion, speed up the inflation, increase the expansion area, and reduce the contraction of the myocutaneous flap. It is a safe and convenient method with which to assist myocutaneous flap expansion.
Background: Stable cartilage regeneration in immunocompetent large animals remains a bottleneck problem that restricts clinical application. The inflammation elicited by degradation products of scaffolds has a decisive influence on cartilage formation. Although prolonged preculture in vitro could form mature engineered cartilage and allow sufficient degradation of scaffolds, the inflammatory reaction was still observed. This study explored the feasibility of using chondrocyte sheet technology to regenerate stable cartilage in the subcutaneous environment with a pig model. Methods: Passage 1 chondrocytes were used to form cell sheets by high-density culture. As a control, chondrocytes were seeded onto polyglycolic acid/polylactic acid scaffolds for 6 and 12 weeks’ in vitro preculture, respectively. Then, they were autologously implanted subcutaneously into pigs for 2, 8, and 24 weeks. Gross view, histologic staining, and biochemical and biomechanical characteristics were evaluated. Results: With prolonged culture in vitro, relatively homogeneous engineered cartilages were formed with less scaffold residue. However, the chondrocyte–polyglycolic acid/polylactic acid group still encountered severe inflammation and inferior cartilage formation at 2 and 8 weeks in vivo. The engineered cartilage with cell sheet technique exhibited a relatively more stable and mature tissue structure without obvious inflammatory response at 24 weeks in vivo, which was similar to the native auricular cartilage. Conclusions: The chondrocyte sheet technique could successfully regenerate mature and stable engineered cartilages in pig models. It is possibly an effective method of repairing cartilage defects in the clinic that uses regenerated substitutes derived from autologous cell sheets.
Objective: Post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation (PIH) is a reactive hypermelanosis of various skin types, which occurs as a sequela of cutaneous inflammation or injury. Despite generally a self-limited and temporary condition, PIH is still a frustrating problem that can have significant psychosocial effects on patients, especially those with darker skin types. Laser therapy is one of the effective treatments for PIH, and various wavelength lasers and light devices have been utilized in PIH therapy. Nonetheless, data on the long-term efficacy of the 755-nm alexandrite picosecond laser are limited. Methods: This study analyzed two cases of PIH treated with a combination of a 755-nm alexandrite picosecond laser and a diffractive lens array or zoom handpiece. Efficacy of the treatment was determined by the images of skin lesions under a fixed light source before and after each treatment, which were independently reviewed by two plastic-surgery specialists blinded to the clinical data. Improvement was classified as complete (>75%), significant (50-75%), mild (25-50%), and inefficient (<25% or no obvious change). Skin imaging analysis was carried out using the VISIA system (Canfield, USA), and dermoscopy was performed at the same time. Results: After two to three courses of treatment, all cases showed significant or complete improvement, and no recurrence was observed during the three years of follow-up. Conclusion: A 755-nm alexandrite picosecond laser in combination with a diffractive lens array or zoom handpiece had significant and long-term efficacy for the treatment of PIH caused by trauma. However, attention should be paid to the problem of transient deepening of pigmentation during treatment.
We present a novel multiwavelength laser array with a sampled grating formed by periodically loaded n-doped injection blocking layer on top of the uniform base grating. With an optimized design of the sampled grating as well as the laser operation conditions, all the even order, including the zeroth-order reflections, can be effectively suppressed, leaving only the first-order reflection wavelength to lase. Unlike in the conventional sampled grating where part of the base grating will have to be removed, the whole base grating is retained in the proposed structure; hence, the side-mode suppression ratio will not be jeopardized due to the weakened grating coupling strength. As an example, an array of 12 lasers has been designed to cover a wavelength range from 1542 to 1560 nm.
Pushbroom Hyperspectral Imager (PHI) is a new intensively researched subject in the spectral imaging field. Hyperspectral imaging is getting wide attention due to their high spectral resolution. The conventional imaging spectrometer uses prism and grating as dispersive component. As the Fabry-Perot (F-P) cavity has high resolution and excellent frequency selectivity, in this paper, MEMS F-P array filter is used as the light splitting device. It is compact, fast modulate rate, high precise and easy to be integrated. In this paper, the optical property of the integrated micro F-P cavity tunable filter has been studied. Optical thin film design software TFCalc has been adopted to design the optical thin film of the micro filter. Design and analysis of antireflection coatings, high reflection and the F-P cavity interference filter. The test results show that the optical properties of the fabricated samples are consistent with the design results. In order to simulate the working mechanism of the micro F-P cavity, two filters were fixed together to form an F-P cavity. The filter effect of the F-P cavity was tested using a spectrometer, the comb filter pattern was observed. The feasibility of the optical F-P cavity tunable filter is confirmed.
BACKGROUND The role of lasers in the treatment of melasma and acquired hyperpigmentation disease of the skin has been suggested by clinicians. However, there is no consensus on the most efficient and safe treatment method. OBJECTIVE To systematically evaluate the efficacy and safety of picosecond laser in the treatment of melasma. METHODS and Materials PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Chinese scientific journal database, and Wanfang database were searched. The data for therapeutic efficacy, melasma area and severity score, and incidence rate of adverse reactions were extracted from the included studies. RESULTS A total of 20 studies involving 1,182 patients were included in this network meta-analysis. Combined therapy with carbamic acid and 1064-nm picosecond laser was the best measure. Melasma area and severity index score of patients after low-power fractional CO2 laser treatment was higher than that of patients after the treatment with 1064-nm picosecond laser. CONCLUSION Aminomethyl cyclic acid combined with 1064-nm picosecond laser may have the highest effective rate after treatment. Low-power fractional CO2 laser provided the lowest melasma area and severity index score after treatment, and the incidence rate of adverse reactions after treatment, was highest when intense pulsed light was used.
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