into and or adjacent to sebaceous glands the skin section is illuminated with short laser pulses at the matching wavelength so as to impact sufficient energy to the contaminant to cause explosion in the contaminant the energy released in the course of the explosions may blow off layers of dead skin cells and or destroy tissue responsible for hair growth and or sebum production application_number US 16820298 A description preferred embodiments of the present invention can be described by reference to the drawings a first preferred embodiment of the present invention can be described by reference to fig3 through 3j fig3 shows a typical cross section of a section of the outer portion the top three strata of the human epidermis such as that in the skin of a 50 year old female 39 s cheek shown is a representation of a 15 cell thick stratum comeum 1 and a 3 cell thick stratum lucidum 2 and a 3 cell thick stratum granulosum the total thickness shown is about 100 microns 0 10 mm individual cells of the stratum corneum have dimensions of about 10 to 15 microns long about 5 microns wide and up to 2 microns thick the cells of the upper layers are loosely stuck together spaces between the cells range from zero distance to about 1 or 2 microns the first step of this preferred embodiment is to topically apply a layer of carbon solution to.