Hypertrophic scars and keloids are benign fibrotic skin lesions that usually arise following surgery, trauma or acne, and are difficult to remove. Fibroblastic proliferation and excess collagen deposition are the main characteristics of these lesions (Uitto and Kouba, 2000), and, imbalances between rates of collagen biosynthesis and degradation, superimposed on the individual’s genetic predisposition have been implicated in the pathogenesis of keloids and hypertrophic scars.
The use of LLLT as a prophylactic means in order to avoid and impair the formation of hypertrophic scars or keloids has been investigated by Barolet and Boucher (2010). They examined three different cases, wherein a single scar was treated by the patient at home on a daily basis with NIR-LED (805 nm at 30 mW/cm2, 27 J/cm2), following scar revision by surgery or CO2 laser ablation on bilateral areas (Barolet & Boucher, 2010). The first patient had pre-auricular, linear, bilateral keloids, and a post-face lift procedure, and surgical scar revision/excision had been conducted. The second patient had post-acne, bilateral hypertrophic scars on the chest, and CO2 laser resurfacing had been performed. For the third patient, CO2 laser resurfacing had also been used for post-excision, bilateral hypertrophic scars on the back (Barolet & Boucher, 2010).
Collectively, in these studies, it was observed that, the NIR-LED treated scars showed significant improvement over the control scars in all measures of efficacy. Additionally, no adverse effects associated with treatment were reported (Barolet & Boucher, 2010).