Red light-emitting diode (LED) therapy accelerates wound healing post-blepharoplasty and periocular laser ablative resurfacing.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

Blepharoplasties can be associated with sequelae-related patient downtime, often extended or reinforced by periocular laser ablative resurfacing. The present controlled study examined the effects of a new-generation LED phototherapy system on enhancing wound healing following such combination surgery.

METHODS

Two males and eight females participated in the trial, with ages ranging from 44 to 59 years (average 52.3 years). Following blepharoplasty and Er:YAG/CO2 laser ablative resurfacing, one-half of each subject's face was treated with the red LED therapy (20 min, 96 J/cm2, 633 nm), the contralateral half being the unirradiated control. Patients reported subjectively on pain levels and resolution. Resolution of erythema, edema, bruising and days to healing were independently evaluated from the clinical photography. All findings were compared between the treated and untreated sides.

RESULTS

In all instances, the LED therapy-treated side was statistically significantly superior to the unirradiated control by a factor of two to three.

CONCLUSIONS

In this small series of 10 patients, red LED phototherapy after blepharoplasty and laser ablative resurfacing cut the time to resolution of side effects and the healing time by one-half to one-third compared with contralateral unirradiated controls. Further studies are warranted with larger populations to confirm these findings.