Ultrasonic vibrations; a tool for investigative dermatology.

Abstract

THE VIBRATIONS or wave lengths beyond those audible to the human ear (which hears vibrations of 20 to 20,000 cps) are known as ultrasonic or supersonic vibrations. These vibrations have interesting possibilities in the field of investigative dermatology. The purpose of my brief preliminary report is to call this subject to the attention of dermatologists, as there are few reports on it in our literature. Ultrasonic vibrations can be produced by various mechanical or electrical methods. Inasmuch as the rate of vibrations is in the thousands of vibrations per second, the unit of measurement is the kilocycle; for example, 800,000 vibrations per second is spoken of as an 800 kilocycle frequency. The frequencies most commonly used in various biological, medical, commercial, and military applications have ranged from 100 to 1500 kilocycles. Ultrasonic waves differ from electromagnetic ones in that they do not traverse a vacuum. They