Laser Therapy
Depending on the medical application, laser therapy is becoming increasingly common. The specific variants all employ a certain wavelength of laser for the purpose of their field of health, but overall almost any laser can theoretically be used for medicinal purposes at the skilled hand of a surgeon. Due to the variance between all of the visible light spectrums for lasers, there are several various lasers as well as their fields of study and this article will attempt to uncover some of the most commonly used applications.
One of the cutting edge breakthroughs has been in cancer laser therapy treatment, or photodynamic therapy. In this form of cancer combat the patient is given, intravenously, a solution of photosensitizes. These specific compounds are chemical solutions that can be excited by a given wavelength. The most common form of laser used in this procedure is a fiber laser that has been tuned to a specific wavelength in line with the compound in the patient. Then the surgeon will shine the light on the targeted cancer area and begin the chain reaction. What occurs is, when the chemical becomes excited it undergoes a chemical transformation. In that transformation, the chemical reacts and absorbs the surrounding oxygen in the vicinity to complete its alteration. The reaction absorbs the oxygen and leaves the rest of the body unharmed. With a complete lack of oxygen the tissue that has been excited around the laser dies. The body’s natural regenerative processes take over and the procedure is over. Interestingly enough, this same form of photodynamic therapy is being clinically tested for applicability in patients with severe acne. There are only a couple science-validated reasons to use PDT, but the potential applications grow with the longer wavelengths and their capacity to impede unwanted cell growth.
Another form of common laser therapy is laser ablation. In this method, commonly the targets are varicose veins. At the hands of a skilled medical therapist, a properly tuned laser is pulsed on the veins which vaporize them. Since the veins are then considered dead, the body quickly works to naturally restore veins within your tissue to prevent them from being blasted again, since it didn’t work the first time. Overall, the purpose of this form of laser therapy is to remove unwanted blemishes, and in this form either pulse of continuous stream lasers work, although it is typically more expensive to employ a continuous stream laser. Another area for common ablation is that of dentistry. Here, given the sensitive nature of the dense tissue around the nerves, the laser is a perfect tool because it quickly removes tissue without causing undo heating, in the case of the pulse laser, and it is quite literally pinpoint accurate. Laser ablation is a form of using a laser that has several different uses throughout the planet and is constantly under development for greater and better advancements.
The last category flows slightly from the previous and that is of cosmetic surgery. In this field, laser therapy has been proven to be a highly successful method of removing unwanted dermatology-based blemishes. Because of the wavelength of the lasers used, they typically do not pierce the skin deeply, although when thinking about cancer removal sometimes a longer wavelength, more piercing beam might be advantageous. Regardless, the short wavelength lasers have been used to remove unwanted birth marks, tattoos, or for simple cosmetic resurfacing and rejuvenation. Certain skin disorders may also be treatable with the proper application of laser therapy, although this should only be done after consultation with your doctor.
With the rise of extremely specific wavelengths of lasers has come their utility in the diverse field of medicine. This list has been a preliminary investigation into the multiplicity of uses certain lasers have in specific treatments. As technology increases, the uses will only multiply and harmonize to create more efficient and effect forms of laser therapy.