[Biostimulation of wound healing in rats by combined soft and middle power lasers]

For some time now, the combined soft- and middle-power laser has been used for treating wounds and various skin diseases, but its effect has not yet been confirmed in experiments on animals. For this reason, a controlled test on the effect of this laser on wound healing in rats was conducted. In 16 rats, 3-cm long skin incisions were made on the wall of the abdomen and then sutured using standard surgical technique with 5 stitches. Eight rats were then treated with laser light, the other 8 receiving a control treatment. The wounds were photographed on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 8th and 15th postoperative day. The photographs were shown to 10 doctors who rated the wounds from 1 to 4 on the basis of the criteria inflammation and adaptation. While the wounds of the laser group were not judged to be significantly better than those of the control group in terms of inflammation, adaptation was judged to be significantly better in the laser-treated group. This effect was particularly evident at the beginning of treatment (3rd day: average rating of laser group: 1.68; S = 0.32; control group: 2.41; S = 0.53; analysis of variance parameters for repeated measurements: p = 0.027 less than 0.05). These results demonstrate that in all probability the combined soft- and middle-power laser promotes the closing of wounds in rats, especially in the first postoperative days, while there is no positive effect on inflammation.