EFFECTS OF LOW INCIDENT ENERGY LEVELS OF INFRARED LASER IRRADIATION ON HEALING OF INFECTED OPEN SKIN WOUNDS IN RATS

It is suggested that S. mutans can be stimulated by LLLT in vivo, and similar modulation could potentially occur in the other bacteria exposed to LLLT. In addition the acceleration of healing in the infected lesion following GaAs LLLT indicates that the cellular activity due to the biostimulation effect of LLLT in the surrounding normal tissue predominates over the tissue irritation due to the bacterial growth in the infected lesion. This study was undertaken to investigate the influence of LLL irradiation on the healing process of skin wounds infected with bacteria. Open wounds of about 6 mm in diameter were formed on both gluteal regions of seven rats and then S. aureus was inoculated on all wounds. One wound of each rat was irradiated by LLL on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th day. but the other was not irradiated to be used as control, All wound areas were measured by photographing the wounds from a constant distance on the lst, 3rd, 5th, and 7th postoperative days, and then the control and experimental groups were compared according to the time interval. The results of this study were as follows: (1) The rate of wound closure was significantly increased in LLL irradiation group. (2) The incidence of swelling indicating the spread of inflammation was significantly decreased in the experimental group.