About lasers and wounds.

[razeman]

The title says almost all, What wound happen if I take a laser of this Dvd driver geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=BLK-GH22NP20-BULK&cat=DVD at 416 mA and point it to my skin, and also what if I point it to an open wound?

 

[Benm]

Not much, the red light easily penetrates skin and flesh, so it goes fairly deep into the tissue and the heat is easily absorbed by the circulating blood.

Green and blue lasers are another story, they can cause burns more easily and could perhaps cauterize a wound - provided that blood isnt flowing out rapidly enough to take away the heat and any cells you burst using the laser.

 

[kernelpanic]

The title says almost all, What wound happen if I take a laser of this Dvd driver geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=BLK-GH22NP20-BULK&cat=DVD at 416 mA and point it to my skin, and also what if I point it to an open wound?

Not only will the red laser not burn you. Red lasers have been shown to actually speed healing. (Google- low level laser therapy.) It is commonly used for post-operative healing...

cheers,
kernelpanic

 

[daguin]

[quote author=razeman link=1229778245/0#0 date=1229778244]The title says almost all, What wound happen if I take a laser of this Dvd driver geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=BLK-GH22NP20-BULK&cat=DVD at 416 mA and point it to my skin, and also what if I point it to an open wound?

Not only will the red laser not burn you. Red lasers have been shown to actually speed healing. (Google- low level laser therapy.) It is commonly used for post-operative healing...

cheers,
kernelpanic[/quote]


Do not try this if you have dark skin  A 20X driven at 416mA is NOT "low level" laser light.

Plus, IIRC we have had someone in this forum report the pain associated with shining 250mW of focused red laser light on an open wound.

Peace,
dave

 

[xmtgx]

Do not try this if you have dark skin  A 20X driven at 416mA is NOT "low level" laser light.  

Plus, IIRC we have had someone in this forum report the pain associated with shining 250mW of focused red laser light on an open wound.

Peace,
dave

Really? Pain, who would of thought it could possibly hurt!
Anyways I use blu-ray for stinging peoples skin now, much more effective.

--Jason

 

[kernelpanic]

Do not try this if you have dark skin  A 20X driven at 416mA is NOT "low level" laser light.  

Plus, IIRC we have had someone in this forum report the pain associated with shining 250mW of focused red laser light on an open wound.

Peace,
dave

I am fair skinned and am completely unable to burn myself with any of my 650nm lasers, focused or not. Having dark skin would definitely change the equation. Thanks for pointing that out.  

BTW 'low-level' as used in that phrase is only used to differentiate from high powered lasers (CO2, Argon, etc.) used in surgery. Lasers of up to 500mW (almost twice the output of a LD open-can) are common in LLLT devices. In the medical sense, 416mA of 650nm is considered 'low-level'. (At least until it hit's your retina...)

cheers,
kernelpanic

 

[Low-Q]

I have no problems with burning my fingertips. The skin there is quite thick as I'm working with my hands all the time. I almost doesn't feel anything. I have even engraved my finger with that laser - black tiny coal drawing, cool ;D
I have also engraved one nail with a 405nm...

I can take a picture of it....

Low-Q

 

[popo_police]

cool

 

[Cyparagon]

Not only will the red laser not burn you. Red lasers have been shown to actually speed healing. (Google- low level laser therapy.) It is commonly used for post-operative healing...

Yeah, they work about as well as magnets.

 

[kernelpanic]

[quote author=kernelpanic link=1229778245/0#2 date=1229783354]
Not only will the red laser not burn you. Red lasers have been shown to actually speed healing. (Google- low level laser therapy.) It is commonly used for post-operative healing...

Yeah, they work about as well as magnets.[/quote]

Don't be so fast to lump LLLT with magnet-quackery. There are a lot of double-blind studies that show acceleration of tissue healing from exposure to light. Most doctors agree that it's not ready for prime-time as the mechanism of acceleration is unknown. But the effect is there...

cheers,
kernelpanic

 

[Cyparagon]

How would one fake laser-treatment?

 

[kernelpanic]

How would one fake laser-treatment?

It's not necessarily 'laser' treatment. LED's have been used also. Studies I've seen (that were on mice) suggest that while visible wavelengths in the red work ~800-900nm is the most effective range.

As to blinding to perform such an experiment double-blind, they did it.(probably by using only trivial amounts of light on the control group. But perhaps they actually just blinded all of the patients with the laser  ;D )-->
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=DetailsSearch&Term=16706694

Stolen shamelessly from the wiki here- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low_level_laser_therapy
Lot's of interesting info there.


cheers,
kernelpanic

 

[Cyparagon]

Crack pots - the lot of them. I get more than 10mW of light in that wavelength on a daily basis from both the sun and indoor lighting. By that logic, standing naked in a room of any bright lights would have an identical effect. At least then you wouldn't have an absurd medical bill or have "laser enthusiast" as a prerequisite.

The effect is psychosomatic.

 

[kernelpanic]

The effect is psychosomatic.

on rodents?!  -->

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/...ve&db=PubMed&dopt=Citation&list_uids=17960752


http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=DetailsSearch&Term=17374099

Rodent placebos- Rats of NIMH indeed!

No one is saying sunlight doesn't have the same effect. But if it can be reproduced in a sterile setting (i.e. Hospital)  without bombing tissue with solar UV and it accelerates healing, what's the harm?

Anyway, it's doubtful I'll change your mind here. When I first heard about it I was skeptical as well. But there is credible evidence that light speeds healing. It's already well known that light helps the body generate vitamin D(an anti-oxidant).

Anyway, I don't want to threadjack... I'm done.

cheers,
kernelpanic

 

[GooeyGus]

It cures aids, cancer, and stupidity all in one exposure.

 

[Cyparagon]

No one is saying sunlight doesn't have the same effect. But if it can be reproduced in a sterile setting (i.e. Hospital) without bombing tissue with solar UV and it accelerates healing, what's the harm?

It's expensive. I'm not going to the hospital to have them shine light at me and charge me god-knows-how-much dough. There's no UV in an incandescent/halogen/LED/fluorescent etc.

It's already well known that light helps the body generate vitamin D(an anti-oxidant).

Close. It's only sunlight that generates vitamin D. Know why? Light bulbs don't emit UVB radiation. So you get vitamin D, tan, and an ever-greater possibility of skin cancer. Wohoo!