Light-Based Devices for Wound Healing

Abstract

The goal of this review is to provide a broad overview of light-based treatments that have shown effectiveness in enhancing various aspects of wound healing, examine the drawbacks that have impeded the translation of some light-based therapies into clinical use, and highlight scenarios where these treatments may confer benefits over current standards in wound care. Several categories of light-based treatments, in particular laser debridement, fractional photothermolysis, and photodynamic therapy, have seen exciting recent clinical results that may justify expanding the use of these modalities in clinical wound care. Antimicrobial blue light is the subject of several ongoing clinical wound trials, the results of which could demonstrate the viability of this technology as a clinical treatment. Photobiomodulation, while conceptually promising, requires more rigorous development and validation before it can become a reliable wound therapy. The technologies underlying light-based therapies are advancing rapidly, and in many cases, their utility in the wound care setting is still being actively explored. We anticipate that as these technologies mature and become optimized for wound applications, their utility in clinical wound care will continue to grow.