A computer model to calculate the injury threshold of the skin following laser exposure was developed. It is based on calculation of the laser induced temperature profile and subsequent integration with the Arrhenius integral. The model was optimized and validated against 93 experimentally determined threshold data (ED50) in pigs and humans with various skin colors. The maximum deviation of the model w.r.t. experimental data is 1.9, which is small considering that the model was validated for a wide range of exposures encompassing wavelengths between 500 nm and 10.6 μm, exposure durations between 350 μs and 70 s and spot sizes between 240 μm and 20 mm. Finally, model predietions for heavily pigmented human skin are compared to current exposure limits.
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