Using a Laser to Melt the Fat Away

By putting a high intensity laser beam to work on body fat, a team of researchers has been able, without harming overlying skin, to heat fat in an experimental pig which then broke down and was excreted by the body. The team is made up of researchers at the Wellman Center for Photomedicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School and the Department of Energy's Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility.

Although the technique developed using a free-electron laser (FEL) was used to heat fat, their experimentation points to a number of other medical applications for photothermolysis, the selective heating of tissues with light.

Possible other uses would include treatment of diseases with a high degree of lipid-rich tissues, such as arteriosclerosis, the leading cause of heart attacks and strokes. Too, there is optimism about the use of the laser technique to target sebaceous glands, the principal cause of acne.

The team will continue to develop laser devices capable of producing the fat melting results, but it will probably be a few years before the technique will be tested on humans.