Plasma in aesthetic medicine: benefits and considerations

Plasma electrosurgical devices have long been employed for tissue coagulation, cutting and cauterising. In the past few years, according to Gay-Mimbera et al, plasma medicine has been full of innovations. This field of aesthetics looks to ‘control the interactions between plasma components (as well as other secondary species that can be formed from these components) with specific structural elements and functionalities of living cells’ (2017).

Plasma is a resurfacing method that ‘uses plasma energy to create a thermal effect on the skin’ (Foster et al, 2008). This method differs from lasers, as it does not depend on chromophores or vapourise tissue. Instead, it leaves an intact layer of desiccated epidermis, which ‘acts as a natural biologic dressing and promotes wound healing and rapid recovery’ (Foster et al, 2008).

Plasma is often referred to as the fourth state of matter, which comprises of ionised atoms (Sotiris et al, 2014). It is created when electrostatic energy mixes with an ionised gas. When the thermal energy from a plasma device reaches around 1-mm from the skin, it mixes with oxygen and nitrogen in the atmosphere and creates a plasma arc, which vaporises upon contact with the skin. (Sotiris et al, 2014)