Background and Aim: Liposuction is one of the most popular
procedures for removing unwanted body fat deposits now. The conventional
methods for liposuction however have many drawbacks among them is long
recovery time, scars, bruising, skin flaccidity and excessive blood loss.
Considering the increasing demand for body sculpting, the need to improve these
techniques is of vital importance. One of these newly proposed techniques is
laser assisted lipolysis. Laser lipolysis is now widely used for body
contouring and sculpting. Less trauma, bleeding and pain is among the main
advantages of this method.
Methods: Photons propagation and scattering within the
biological tissues can effectively investigated by using numerical methods. In
this study we used the Monte Carlo simulation method to simulate photons
directions, absorption and scattering inside the tissue. This method uses a
random number generator for photons creation, moving inside the tissue and
termination. In this simulation we considered both the wavelength and fluence
variations effects on the photon absorption rate and penetration depth inside
the fat tissue.
Results: Our study showed the increasing of penetration depth
with decreasing of absorption coefficient. We observed that deepest penetration
depth for 920 nm wavelength as it has lowest absorption coefficient. We also
concluded that increasing the laser power (increase in fluence of laser)
resulted in increasing the penetration depth of laser radiation. Increasing the
radius of laser beam (decreasing the fluence) on the other hand resulted in
reduction in penetration depth.
Conclusion: Monte Carlo simulation of radiation propagation
within the biological tissue has proved to be an efficient method. This method
effectively simulates the physical components of laser radiation. Our findings
indicate that to have laser lipolysis more efficient and safe, it is essential
to choose suitable wavelength.
