Ablative lasers primarily achieve their effect by which mechanism?

• A. Heating without removing tissue
• B. Destroying the dermis (skin resurfacing)
• C. Coagulating hair follicles
• D. Cooling the skin

Answer: (B)

Ablative lasers achieve their effect by removing tissue through vaporization, leading to skin resurfacing. The laser energy is strongly absorbed by water in the skin, causing rapid heating that vaporizes targeted skin layers and lifts them away. This direct removal of epidermal and often part of the dermal layers is what produces the refreshed, smoother skin that follows healing. It’s different from non-ablative approaches, which heat tissue without removing surface layers, and from cooling methods, which serve to protect tissue but aren’t the primary mechanism of ablation.