Capillary blood vessel

Capillary blood vessels are the smallest blood vessels in living tissue, consisting of a single layer of endothelial cells. They are central to cutaneous and subcutaneous blood flow and are often the physical target in dermatological laser therapy. Photothermolysis refers to the selective destruction, closure, or permeability alteration of these vessels using appropriately chosen wavelengths, pulse durations, and fluence of laser energy. The principle relies on the higher absorption of laser energy by hemoglobin relative to surrounding tissue, resulting in localized heating, coagulation, and vessel wall damage, with clinical applications in treating vascular lesions like port wine stains, hemangiomas, telangiectasias, and spider veins. This is not a conventional molecular target, but a physical therapy concept exploiting tissue optics and thermodynamics for vascular intervention[4][5][6][7][8].

Other names

capillarycapillary vesseldermal capillarymicrovesselblood microvasculature

Selective photothermolysis: laser energy absorbed by hemoglobin in red blood cells heats and damages the capillary wall, causing coagulation, vessel closure, or increased permeability