Cartilage grafts have been widely used for reconstruction of congenital or
acquired deformities. Reshaping and preserving the new shape of the cartila
ge grafts have been a problem. In this in vitro experimental study the auth
ors studied the effect of the Er:YAG laser on cartilage reshaping in compar
ison with scalpel stripping and suture holding, The study consisted four gr
oups (n = 9): group I, untouched cartilage; group II, the short edges of th
e cartilage were sutured to each other; group III, cartilage was incised us
ing a scalpel; and group IV, Er:YAG laser stripping was applied to the cart
ilage. Changes in the shape of cartilage were evaluated at 15 minutes, and
days 1, 4, and 10. The majority of cartilage in the scalpel-stripped group
returned to the initial shape by day 10, whereas the laser-stripped cartila
ge showed progressive warping day by day, and almost all cartilage formed a
circle by day 10. The Er:YAG laser enhanced cartilage warping by a mechani
cal effect of stripping and a thermal effect of laser radiation resulting i
n ultrastructural changes.