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Effects of low‐level energy lasers on the healing of full‐thickness skin defects
Author(s) -
Surinchak John S.,
Alago Maria L.,
Bellamy Ronald F.,
Stuck Bruce E.,
Belkin Michael
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
lasers in surgery and medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.888
H-Index - 112
eISSN - 1096-9101
pISSN - 0196-8092
DOI - 10.1002/lsm.1900020310
Subject(s) - breaking strength , wound healing , dose , laser , irradiation , medicine , surgery , contraction (grammar) , nuclear medicine , zoology , materials science , biology , physics , nuclear physics , optics , composite material
Effects of low‐level helium‐neon laser radiation were compared on (1) wounds that closed primarily by contraction and (2) the breaking strength of straight‐line incisions. Circular full‐thickness skin defects in rabbits received dosages of 1.1 J/cm 2 during a 30‐min exposure every third day, and 2.2 J/cm 2 during a 3‐min exposure twice daily until wound closure. No significant differences in healing were observed between laser‐treated wounds and untreated control wounds. Conversely, rat skin incisions exposed to 2.2 J/cm 2 for 3 min twice daily for 14 days demonstrated a 55% increase in breaking strength over control rats (p <0.01); 28 days postoperatively, this difference in breaking strength diminished to a nonsignificant 16% increase over the control rats. Increasing the dosage to 4.5 J/cm 2 yielded a nonsignificant 17% increase over the control rats 14 days postoperatively. HeNe laser irradiation of wounds increases certain aspects of healing in the early stages, but not to such a degree as to be clinically applicable. More detailed research is indicated to obtain optimal exposure levels necessary to accelerate wound healing significantly.