It is not only beauty that’s skin deep – now with the latest advances in science and medicine, even some needle-based and other transdermal drug delivery methods can be only skin deep as well. Thanks to Pantec Biosolutions, there’s now an efficient and pain-free intraepidermal drug delivery solution dubbed P.L.E.A.S.E or Painless Laser Epidermal System. This medical device allows for either low or high molecular weight drugs to be introduced directly into the epidermis. Although there are already transdermal patches in the market, they are very limited in application since the skin’s barrier allows only molecules 500 Dalton and smaller to pass through the dermis. P.L.E.A.S.E. overcomes this limitation by using laser to create pores large enough to let large and poorly permeating molecules pass through the protective outer layer of the skin. Some of the benefits of transdermal drug delivery include pain-free administration, controlled and accurate dosage, decreases gastro-intestinal upset, bypasses first pass metabolism, higher patient compliance, and reduced cost.
P.L.E.A.S.E. basically uses a handheld laser gadget that creates regulated and very tiny aqueous microscopic pores on the outermost layer of the skin. The high-tech laser source painlessly and accurately vaporizes the outer skin tissue using short pulses to eliminate thermal damage or burns. This technique doesn’t involve carbonization, offers fast ablation of skin tissue in 5-10 micro steps, and facilitates fine-tuning of number and depth of pores relevant to the drug dosage. Additionally, the variable laser deflection results in flexible formation of pore arrays. These microspores are limited only to the epidermis and do not reach the blood vessel and nerve rich dermis layer of the skin. A smart yet simple graphical user interface ensures that both the medical practitioner and patient can operate the device safely without supervision.
All of us have grandparents and they could be irritating with their frequent questions and all. We could in fact sharpen our memory but it will lose its edge as we grow older and there is nothing that we can do about it much like how water flows down the falls. But how ironic that this is also the period where we must remember a lot of medications that we need to take like a tablet before eating, after eating, right after you wake up, on an empty stomach, 3x a day, hour intervals and the list goes on! The medicine kit with post-it reminders is a crude way of remembering which medication to take so why not tech it up like the Medicine Management System concept?
