You might have heard about the miraculous ability of your body to heal itself. But sometimes, a delay in the wound healing process makes your body more vulnerable.

In this article, we’ll discuss the benefits of red light therapy.

 

 

An Overview of Wound Healing Process:

Your skin is the first line of defense against wounds, lacerations, cuts, and burns. Wounds that are only skin-deep can heal themselves, but it takes longer to heal wounds involving bones, blood vessels, ligaments, etc.

Your skin heals wounds and repairs tissues in three stages:

 

 

Stage 1: Hemostasis Phase

When your immune system protects the wound right after an injury, you notice that the blood at the wound site will start clotting. This is called the hemostasis phase.

The platelets aggregate and adhere to the sub-endothelium surface within seconds of the rupture of a blood vessel's epithelial wall.

 

 

Stage 2: Inflammatory Response

In this phase, your immune system prepares the wound to defend against invading pathogens and prepare for the new tissue growth.

• Begin immediately after injury when the injured blood vessels leak transudate (a mixture of water, salt, and protein), causing localized swelling.

• Inflammation both regulates bleeding and protects against infection.

• The fluid engorgement allows healing and repair cells to migrate to the wound site.

• Damaged cells, pathogens, and bacteria are removed from the wound area during the inflammatory phase.

• The swelling, heat, pain, and redness seen during this stage of wound healing are caused by white blood cells, growth factors, nutrients, and enzymes.

• Inflammation is a normal part of the healing process and is only harmful if it lasts too long or is excessive.

 

 

Stage 3: Proliferative Phase

Your skin starts repairing broken blood vessels and tissues. Collagen is produced that synthesizes new tissues.

• The wound is rebuilt with new collagen and extracellular matrix-based tissue. As new tissues are formed, the wound shrinks.

• A new network of blood vessels must be built in order for the granulation tissue to be healthy and receive enough oxygen and nutrients.

• Myofibroblasts contract the wound by gripping the wound edges and pulling them together in a manner similar to smooth muscle cells.

 

 

Stage 4: Remodeling Phase

• Apoptosis, or programmed cell death, removes cells that were used to repair the wound but are no longer needed.

• The collagen was laid down during the proliferative phase, and it is disorganized, resulting in a thick wound.

• Collagen is restructured into a more organized structure along stress lines, increasing the tensile strength of the healing tissues. Matrix metalloproteinases are secreted by fibroblasts. The enzymes aid in the transformation of type III collagen to type I collagen.

 

 

 

How can Red Light Therapy speed up the Healing Process?

One of the innumerable health benefits of red light therapy is promoting skin wound healing. The wound healing benefits of red light therapy were first discovered by NASA scientists during their space flights when they had trouble healing injuries.

This accidental discovery proved to be beneficial for accelerating wound healing. Red light therapy uses specific wavelengths of near-infrared light (810nm-850nm) and red light (630nm-660nm) to encourage the wound healing process.

Near-infrared light penetrates deeper into the skin, and red light accelerates the healing of skin wounds. When the skin absorbs red and NIR light wavelengths, cells produce more energy by responding to these wavelengths.

Red light therapy modulates the inflammatory response, stimulates the healthy productions of collagen, and promotes increased fibroblast production at the wound site

Red light therapy is a popular option for treating redness, scars, acne, and wrinkles. This may be due to the light's effect on collagen production and blood circulation in skin tissue.

 

 

 

 

Red Therapy also improves Scar Appearance

Cuts, burns, and surgical incisions always leave an unwelcomed, lasting blemish. Various studies have shown that red light therapy can reduce the appearance of scars by repairing scar tissues.

Regular sessions of red light therapy have been shown to repress the expression of scar-associated TGD-beta1 genes.

Deep wounds that involve blood vessels and nerves require professional medical attention. But you can treat minor wounds at home because they don’t need to be treated by a doctor.

All you need is a light therapy LED panel and 10-20 minutes per week maximum benefits. Additional point take into consideration:

• Support your body by giving it good nutrients, adequate rest, and stress relief.

 

 

 

References

• Chaves MEA, et al. (2014). Effects of low-power light therapy on wound healing: LASER x LED. DOI:
  doi.org/10.1590/abd1806-4841.20142519

• Chung H, et al. (2012). The nuts and bolts of low-level laser (light) therapy. DOI:
  doi.org/10.1007/s10439-011-0454-7

• Cobb CM. (2006). Lasers in periodontics: A review of the literature. DOI:
  doi.org/10.1902/jop.2006.050417

• Decision memo for infrared therapy devices (CAG-00291N). (2006).
  cms.gov/medicare-coverage-database/details/nca-decision-memo.aspx?NCAId=176&NcaName=Infrared+Therapy+Devices&DocID=CAG-00291N&id=176&bc=gAAAAAgAAgAAAA==&

 

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