Dermatology Commons^™

Atmospheric Pressure Plasma Treatment Of Skin: Penetration Into Hair Follicles, Kseniia Konina, Theresa A. Freeman, Mark J. Kushner

Department of Orthopaedic Surgery Faculty Papers

Sterilization of skin prior to surgery is challenged by the reservoir of bacteria that resides in hair follicles. Atmospheric pressure plasma jets (APPJs) have been proposed as a method to treat and deactivate these bacteria as atmospheric plasmas are able to penetrate into structures and crevices with dimensions similar to those found in hair follicles. In this paper, we discuss results from a computational investigation of an APPJ sustained in helium flowing into ambient air, and incident onto a layered dielectric similar to human skin in which there are idealized hair follicles. We found that, depending on the location of …