New, low-level laser therapy helps heal

WOUNDS, infections to the wounds and gangrene are common, albeit uncomfortable and painful side-effects diabetes sufferers have to contend with.

Conventional treatments for wound care including antibiotics and ointments have been used for decades to circumvent these sideeffects, with amputation as a final resort. Now, new non-invasive therapies are being used to harness the sun’s power and to use it for healing.

Thirty years ago Toronto vascular surgeon Dr Fred Kahn began researching this light energy and developed the Bio Flex laser systems to effectively administer the specific dosages of light required for healing.

Low-intensity laser therapy, also known as cold laser, low-level laser therapy or photobiomodulation, is an emerging therapeutic approach to healing, and is a highly effective treatment that addresses many of the associated conditions resulting from diabetes.

Directing an optimal very specific measure of the electromagnetic spectrum, light can be absorbed by cell molecules for tissue regeneration.

This technology, which is being increasingly used in SA, utilises super luminous and laser diodes to irradiate diseased or traumatised tissue with photons. These particles of energy are selectively absorbed by the cell membrane and intracellular molecules, resulting in the initiation of a cascade of complex physiological reactions, leading to the restoration of normal cell structure and function.

The process is curative and therefore results in the elimination of symptoms, including pain. It facilitates natural healing.

Laser therapy is a therapeutic technology that not only expedites the inflammatory process but also enhances tissue healing, even with the most challenging lesions.