Speed Up Wound Healing with Red & Near IR Light Therapy
Red & near IR light therapy is fantastic for wound healing. This was one of the original findings of the NASA research that really put red light therapy on the map. In fact, red & near IR light therapy has been found to help close wounds—even those resistant to healing—20% faster and with less scarring. Red and near-infrared light therapy has also proven to reduce the appearance of facial scars, less swelling, oozing, crusting, pain, and prolonged erythema thereby accelerating wound healing.
It also increases circulation and the formation of new capillaries, meaning that the wounded area receives more of the oxygen and nutrients it needs to initiate and maintain the healing process.
Red & near IR light accomplishes this in several ways:
- cleaning up dead and damaged skin cells (phagocytosis)
- increasing ATP in skin cells, giving cells more energy to heal themselves
- increasing the production of fibroblasts
- increasing blood flow, supplying the wound more oxygen and nutrients needed for repair
- stimulating the production of collagen and the health of the extracellular matrix
- stimulating lymph activity
- stimulating the formation of new connective tissue and blood capillaries on the surface of the wound.
LED - Wound Healing Research Studies and Abstracts
Use alone or in Combination of Red and Infrared Laser in Skin Wounds. Fernando José Camello de Lima, Fabiano Timbó Barbosa, and Célio Fernando de Sousa-Rodrigues
CONCLUSION
The low-power lasers in general are efficient collaborators in the repair of skin wounds, inducing growth of fibroblasts, collagen synthesis, angiogenesis and subsequent re-epithelialization to wound closure. A promising alternative for the use of lasers to achieve these results is the combination of red and infrared wavelengths, applications on alternate days during a range of approximately two weeks time. However there is still no defined protocol with dose of fluency to apply to these skin wounds.
THE USE OF NASA LIGHT-EMITTING DIODE NEAR-INFRARED TECHNOLOGY FOR BIOSTIMULATION. Harry T. Whelan. Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Alabama, USA
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION:
Near infrared (IR) light has documented benefits promoting wound healing in human and animal studies. Our preliminary results have also demonstrated two to five-fold increases in growth-phase-specific DNA synthesis in normal fibroblasts, muscle cells, osteoblasts, and mucosal epithelial cells in tissue cultures treated with near-IR light. Our animal models treated with near-IR have included wound healing in diabetic mice and ischemic bipedical skin flap in rats. Near-IR induced a thirty percent increase in the rate of wound closure in these animal models. Dose- and time-dependent increases in vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and fibroblast growth factor (FGF-2) occurred in animals treated with near-IR. Human studies have included the use of near-IR to prevent ulcerative mucositis resulting from high doses of chemotherapy and radiation. Widely published reports, including those from our laboratory, described accelerated recovery from musculoskeletal injuries, hypoxic-ischemic wounds, burns, lacerations, radiation necrosis, and diabetic ulcers with the use of near-IR. Lasers have some inherent characteristics, which make their use in a clinical setting problematic, including limitations in wavelength capabilities and beam width. The combined wavelengths of light optimal for wound healing cannot be efficiently produced, and the size of wounds which may be treated by lasers is limited. Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) developed for NASA crewed spaceflight experiments offer an effective alternative to lasers. These diodes can be made to produce multiple wavelengths, and can be arranged in large, flat arrays allowing treatment of large wounds.
Use alone or in Combination of Red and Infrared Laser in Skin Wounds. Fernando José Camello de Lima, Fabiano Timbó Barbosa, and Célio Fernando de Sousa-Rodrigues
CONCLUSION
The low-power lasers in general are efficient collaborators in the repair of skin wounds, inducing growth of fibroblasts, collagen synthesis, angiogenesis and subsequent re-epithelialization to wound closure. A promising alternative for the use of lasers to achieve these results is the combination of red and infrared wavelengths, applications on alternate days during a range of approximately two weeks time. However there is still no defined protocol with dose of fluency to apply to these skin wounds.
THE USE OF NASA LIGHT-EMITTING DIODE NEAR-INFRARED TECHNOLOGY FOR BIOSTIMULATION. Harry T. Whelan. Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Alabama, USA
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION:
Near infrared (IR) light has documented benefits promoting wound healing in human and animal studies. Our preliminary results have also demonstrated two to five-fold increases in growth-phase-specific DNA synthesis in normal fibroblasts, muscle cells, osteoblasts, and mucosal epithelial cells in tissue cultures treated with near-IR light. Our animal models treated with near-IR have included wound healing in diabetic mice and ischemic bipedical skin flap in rats. Near-IR induced a thirty percent increase in the rate of wound closure in these animal models. Dose- and time-dependent increases in vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and fibroblast growth factor (FGF-2) occurred in animals treated with near-IR. Human studies have included the use of near-IR to prevent ulcerative mucositis resulting from high doses of chemotherapy and radiation. Widely published reports, including those from our laboratory, described accelerated recovery from musculoskeletal injuries, hypoxic-ischemic wounds, burns, lacerations, radiation necrosis, and diabetic ulcers with the use of near-IR. Lasers have some inherent characteristics, which make their use in a clinical setting problematic, including limitations in wavelength capabilities and beam width. The combined wavelengths of light optimal for wound healing cannot be efficiently produced, and the size of wounds which may be treated by lasers is limited. Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) developed for NASA crewed spaceflight experiments offer an effective alternative to lasers. These diodes can be made to produce multiple wavelengths, and can be arranged in large, flat arrays allowing treatment of large wounds.
