Low Level Laser Therapy in the Treatment of Burn Wounds

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Low level laser therapy (LLLT), also called "photobiomodulation" and "cold laser therapy", is a new and developing field of medical study that involves exposing organic tissue to low level laser light in order to stimulate or inhibit cellular functions, which can have healthy clinical results.

Despite the fact that it has officially approved the use of low level laser therapy, the FDA has yet to graduate LLLT from the category of "experimental field". In part this is because the effects of LLLT, while proven useful in the treatment of neck pain and other musculatory ailments, have yet to be verified in the treatment of things like burn wound healing.

Treating burn scars is one of the most challenging medical tasks. This is because burn wounds have a tendency to worsen with hypertrophy and contracture. No treatment has yet been devised to aid in the complete healing of severe burn wounds, but low level laser therapy is one promising possibility.

Light emitted via monochromatic laser at a certain level of irradiance can help in the regeneration of tissue as well as in diminishing inflammation and pain. The exact photochemical mechanism involved in this process has yet to be understood fully, but research into the subject is ongoing. Several different institutions have conducted studies on the effects of LLLT on burn scars and the results remain mixed.

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, for example, conducted tests that provided inconclusive results, and their claim was that low level lasers have zero effect on the healing process off burn wounds.

On the other hand, studies published in scientific journals dealing specifically with the field of treating burn victims, have shown a lot positive results. One particular study published in the medical journal Burns showed that 17 out of the 19 burn wounds that wore treated with (in addition to traditional methods) low level laser light shows a marked improvement in the quality and speed of their healing process.

Part of the reason that cold laser therapy treatment has not yet been given the same level of recognition that a mainstream medical treatments get is that LLLT is, in fact, not mainstream, and a strict, documented methodology for experiments in the field has yet to be devised and widely adopted.