Laser therapy in post herpetic neuralgia

Combi laser therapy was evaluated in 50 cases of established post herpetic neuralgia (PHN). Established PHN term was used when neuralgia persisted after 3 months of disappearance of herpes zoster (HZ) vesicles. Twenty exposures were given and affected areas were irradiated from a distance of 2 cm at a frequency of 5000 Hz each area being exposed for a period of 1.23 minutes ie, 8J/cm2 of beam was given. Therapeutic evaluation was done on 4th, 8th, 12th, 16th, and 20th day. All 17 cases of established PHN of duration upto 3 months healed after 16 exposures and in the end 44/50 had cure, 5/50 had partial relief and one patient left trial after 2nd exposure.