Superficial Therapy

Abstract

The object of superficial therapy is to influence the tissues of the skin (epidermis and cutis) and also, to a certain extent, the subcutaneous connective tissue. The radiation for this purpose is generated by voltages from about 5 to about 100 kV. The harder rays found earlier application than the very soft rays, because in the conventional X-ray tubes made of glass even the thinnest window absorbs by far the greatest part of the soft rays generated by voltages below approximately 30 kV. In some countries it is the practice to speak of superficial therapy up to 140 kV, but this view is finding increasingly less support.