Cold laser is nothing short of a miracle. Cold laser is the reason I am back in practice today. We use it every day in our office to treat ailments such as carpal tunnel, neuromas, sprains, strains, swelling, swollen glands, high blood pressure, arthritis, scar tissue, and localized pain.

Cold laser helped me overcome the pain of neuromas created by my hereditary disposition to produce abnormal amounts of scar tissue. These neuromas occurred during the course of nine surgeries to correct the results of a C-section that went badly. For 5½ years after the C-section, my health continued to deteriorate to the point that for the last 2 of those years, I was on total disability. In an effort to replace the associate DC I had or sell my practice, I met another DC who had been treated with cold laser for a wrist injury with great results. He recommended I seek a practitioner and try it.

Back in Business

I found Mitch Malley, DC, in Davenport, Iowa. He informed me about cold laser. He assured me the cold laser, along with deep-tissue massage, would alleviate my symptoms and I would be back in practice in 2 months or less. He was absolutely right.

I was treated with the laser three times per week for 2 weeks. At the end of the 2 weeks, I was experiencing more pain than I was before and considered discontinuing treatment. I called Malley to get his opinion, and he informed me that oftentimes the laser "wakes up" nerves that had been damaged—thus, the increased pain. But he advised me to continue treatment and the pain would subside shortly. At the end of the third week, I found I could sleep through the night without pain for the first time in 2 years. After a month of treatment by Malley, I had seen enough improvement to purchase a laser for home use. I saw enough improvement in my condition that I knew it would be of value in my practice and that I would be back in my practice soon.

The way cold laser was used on me was to apply two units in tandem along the C-section scar, rotating them 40° at the end of each 30-second cycle for a total of three cycles. After covering the area of the scar, we applied the laser in the same way to specific areas of pain, near the scar, created by the neuromas. After 6 weeks, I was back in my practice—not at full steam but I was there and improving daily.

My patients were first of all amazed that I was back at all and second very curious about the device that made it all possible. That device is the MicroLight ML830 Cold Laser. The ML830 is a class 3B laser, which means it is considered safe by the FDA but can potentially cause eye damage if protective lenses are not worn by the practitioner and patient during treatment. Class 3B lasers do not have the same potential for thermal cellular harm as the Class 4 lasers. In fact, ultrasound presents more of a chance for thermal cellular damage than the Class 3B laser. Low- level laser therapy has been researched and tested for more than 30 years.

We use cold laser in our practice much the way we used to use ultrasound, only with better results. Treatments take a little longer than ultrasound—generally 15 to 30 minutes depending on the amount of area treated—but the improvement in patient condition is faster and more demonstrative. We have found that most insurance companies will not pay for the cold laser treatment. We bill it as E0221, an experimental procedure, and charge the patient $25 per session. The two MicroLight ML830 units we own require little maintenance. We just clean the contact heads of the units with antibacterial wipes after each patient. The products haven't had to be recalibrated yet, although they should be annually.

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The two ML830 units we own cost us $8,600; and in the 7 months we have used them, they have just paid for themselves. Now, we can start paying for the man-hours and realize a little profit. The biggest improvement I would like to see in this technology is a larger contact head with more laser diodes so we can treat larger areas more efficiently.

The biggest problem we encounter when prescribing the treatment is the cost, and it not being covered by insurance. The second is getting patients to follow through with initial treatments of three times per week for at least 4 to 6 weeks. You can sell some patients 10 treatments up front and give them two free. I would recommend that any DCs wanting to improve their practices and patient satisfaction to add low-level laser.

Jill Byrnes, DC, practices in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Contact her at .