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Speeding Up Healing with Cold Laser Therapies

A Loftin Integrative Health Feature Article, Written by Donna Loftin ©
Low Level Laser Therapy and Proli-Therapy
(Wound Healing, Arthritus, Sports Injury and Much More)
With the use of the cold or ruby laser and the application of transdermal creams to the injured site, the healing process of a wound—either an injury or from surgery—is not only speeded up, but is also prevented from developing abnormal wound healing characteristics such as keloid and hypertrophic scaring. 
There are three phases of wound healing:
1. Inflammatory—begins immediately and lasts 2-6 days; bleeding stops; white blood cells fight bacterial infection; collagen forms.
2. Proliferative—continues for 3-4 weeks; collagen proliferates rapidly pulling wound closed.
3. Remodeling or maturation—slow process of several weeks to several years; collagen building continues as scar tissue, and then begins remodeling itself from red and raised to flat and white.
The use of Low Level Laser and transdermal creams in Proli-Therapy, or wound healing, is most effective early in the three phases of wound healing: the earlier the treatment, the better. 
However, Low Level Laser and Proli-Therapy is also used successfully on:
Slow healing wounds
 Abnormal wound healing
Wound-healing complications
 Cicatrix
Preventing the formation of pathological scars (keloid and hypertrophic scars)
 Healing open, ulcerated areas of the skin
Low Level Laser and Proli-therapy speeds up the wound healing process from:
Cosmetic or elective surgeries
 Non-elective surgeries
Breast removal and reconstruction
 Any injury
Burns from irradiation therapy
How Do Low Level Lasers Work on Wounds?
Low Level Laser Therapy is a cutting-edge technology that compresses light from the cold (or red) spectrum of electromagnetic radiation and penetrates the skin without heat or damage. 
It is a form of phototherapy, or photobiology, that has been used successfully to promote wound healing:
• Cold, or ruby, lasers have several bio-stimulation effects that accelerate tissue repair
• All the cells in the body have photo-biological properties, which means they both emit and receive light
• To communicate healing to the body’s cells, the use of specific wavelengths of light is used (red)
• Using coherent light, or laser beams, is the most effective application
Phototherapeutic methods for accelerating the healing of soft tissues have been used for twenty years. Low Level Lasers, or cold lasers, radiate tissues at a very low power—just enough to stimulate healing. In contrast, the lasers that have a more dramatic effect on the body are hot lasers and they are commonly applied in hair removal, surgery, skin resurfacing, and dentistry.
What is a Transdermal Cream?
A transdermal application is the route of administration for a corrective or supplementary substance. Transdermal applications are sometimes the preferred way to introduce a supplement to the body, as this method increases the absorption of the supplement’s ingedients. Sometimes a transdermal application is the only way for a substance to be accepted and utilized by the body. 
Currently, transdermal applications, such as creams and patches, are commonly used to deliver hormones, nutraceuticals, minerals, vitamins, and neurotransmitters to the body in measured and time-release doses. 
Some people are malnourished from a lack of absorption even if they are taking oral supplements. You may have a compromised intestinal tract from years of eating a bad diet, prolonged stress, the overgrowth of intestinal candida, or the over use of antibiotics or prescription drugs. Using transdermal creams are an effective way to administer supplements because they bypass the digestive system and processing by the liver. Bypassing digestion allows for deeper tissue saturation.
How Do Transdermal Creams Relate
To Wound Healing?
Transdermal creams can be filled with tissue-building, skin-stimulating, infection-fighting, and soothing ingredients: herbs, vitamins, and minerals that trigger and support wound healing through the three phases of wound healing. Of critical importance here, is the third phase: remodeling the scar tissue. The transdermal application of natural agents of skin repair at this phase of healing accelerates scar remodeling and minimizes, or even eliminates, its appearance.
Some transdermal creams contain zinc, glutathione, and magnesium sulfate for wound healing. Applying them transdermally to the affected area allows the healing substances in the creams to be absorbed into the body at a preferred rate and depth for increasing the circulation and distribution of the compounds directly to the wound site.
Loftin Integrative Health Services, LLC, San Diego, California