Medical laser technology is making waves—pardon the pun—across the country.
Why?
The technology is really exciting, and offers us new ways to treat all kinds of painful symptoms and conditions faster, safer, and more effectively than ever before.
Better yet, you don’t need to drive down to Ann Arbor, Detroit, or Grand Rapids to enjoy the benefits of this state-of-the-art medical tech. You can find it right here in Freeland! Already in a relatively short period of time since bringing it to our practice, we’ve seen some incredible results.
Let’s take a closer look at some of the main uses and major benefits of laser therapy—all achievable using the HyperBlue Plus laser at our clinic.
Pain Relief
Lasers can treat pain? Yes, they absolutely can.
But how?
We’ll spare you the technical jargon, but it helps to remember that lasers are just focused beams of light, and light is a form of energy.
By using specific wavelengths, power settings, and even pulse modes, medical lasers can emit light energy that your body’s cells absorb and use for all sorts of purposes—increasing circulation, fighting inflammation, muscle relaxation, etc.
Our laser is great for quick relief of trigger points, arthritic pain, muscle spasms, and all other kinds of acute or chronic musculoskeletal soft tissue pain.
Accelerated Healing
But laser therapy isn’t just about symptom relief—although that is one of its big benefits!
Because of the way the laser works—stimulating circulation, energizing cells, boosting metabolism, etc.—it accelerates the natural healing mechanisms at work within your own body.
In other words, it isn’t just a “
And while the pain relief effects are generally temporary, the accelerated healing effects are not. Treatments are cumulative, meaning you get better and better results after more sessions.
Ultimately, adding laser therapy to your treatment plan could significantly shorten recovery times for some injuries, and even serve as an effective alternative to surgery for others. When surgery is necessary, laser therapy can also make the post-op recovery and rehab process faster.
Clearing Up Fungal Nails
Laser therapy is a major step forward in fungal toenail treatment technology.
Before laser came onto the scene, the main medical options for fungal toenails were antifungal medications—both oral and topical. Both had major potential downsides.
Topical medications have a really hard time getting to the fungi residing underneath the nail. Although they are quite safe, they take a very long time to work (up to a year or more) and require the discipline to thin your nail every week and apply the dosage every day. As a result, treatment fails for most who try it.
Oral medications are much more successful on
Laser treatment blows both options completely out of the water. Essentially, the laser energy can pass straight through the nail and attack the fungus underneath. This does not cause any pain or harm healthy tissues in any way. There are no known side effects, and it can work quickly. Substantial improvement is often observed after only a couple of sessions.
It is the safest, fastest, and most effective option.
Removing Warts
Plantar warts can be embarrassing, frustrating, painful, and very stubborn. There are lots of treatment options, though each one has some trade-offs in terms of invasiveness vs. effectiveness. But laser gives us a great new option for more severe cases.
Most of the time, the primary approach for treating warts is to use cryotherapy or a chemical agent to destroy the wart tissue. However, it may take several appointments at our office to fully eradicate and remove your warts. On the other end, serious warts sometimes had to be physically cut away and removed, and the base of the wart destroyed.
Fortunately, laser surgery gives us a much better option for eliminating problematic warts that makes a great alternative to the manual incision approach. The laser beam gives us a very precise tool to remove the wart, destroy its base, and even eradicate the viral infection more effectively. Better yet, discomfort from the procedure is minimal, although local anesthesia is required.
Other Advantages: Quick Hits
We’ve focused on the major uses of our HyperBlue Plus laser—in other words, conditions that can be treated in an enhanced way with the technology. But it’s worth it to go over some of the common benefits that apply to most uses of the laser.
It is:
- In most cases, incorporating laser therapy into your treatment plan can bring faster healing and relief than conventional treatments alone.
- When used for pain relief, tissue healing, or fungal nails, laser therapy has no known side effects. Even when the laser is used more invasively, such as with wart removal or
matrixectomies , it is generally safer than alternative methods. - Many laser therapy sessions require only 10-15 minutes of your time, one or two times per week for a couple of weeks. When they’re finished, you can go right back to your normal activities.
In short, incorporating the HyperBlue laser into a treatment protocol has allowed us to greatly improve outcomes, patient comfort, and satisfaction.
And it’s all right here in Freeland, Michigan! How about that for convenience?
If you’re looking for compassionate, effective, and high-quality care for your feet and ankles, stop in and pay us a visit! We look forward to working with you. To schedule an appointment, just dial (989) 695-6788 today.
