Different Depths of Healing: How Red Light Therapy Supports Wound Healing in Dogs
A hot spot beneath your dog’s coat. A cut that doesn’t seem to be closing. A limp that appears after an energetic afternoon at the park. Dogs can injure themselves in very different ways.
Some injuries happen right at the surface of the skin. Others involve tissue much deeper in the body. But whether we’re talking about skin, muscle, tendon or ligament, each involves the body’s natural process of repairing damaged tissue. We can think of these as different depths of healing.
Healing at the surface
Cuts, abrasions, surgical incisions and chronic wounds all involve damage to the skin and underlying tissue.
Hot spots are a slightly different example. Also called acute moist dermatitis, they are areas of inflamed skin that commonly develop after a dog repeatedly licks, scratches or bites an itchy area. Allergies, parasites, local irritation and other skin conditions can contribute, and secondary bacterial infection may also be present.
That’s why a wound or irritated area that isn’t healing should first be assessed appropriately. Light therapy isn’t a substitute for cleaning a wound, treating infection, addressing an allergy or providing whatever other veterinary care the injury requires.
Where things get interesting is what red light therapy, also called photobiomodulation, may be able to add alongside that care.
A canine study of chronic wound healing
In 2021, researchers at Khon Kaen University’s Veterinary Teaching Hospital in Thailand published a randomized controlled clinical trial examining photobiomodulation in dogs with chronic wounds.
The researchers recruited client-owned dogs with open wounds that had persisted for more than three weeks despite treatment. To participate, the wounds had to be at least 4 cm², and dogs with active infection or health conditions likely to interfere with wound healing were excluded.
Twenty-one dogs ultimately completed the trial. They were randomly assigned into three equal groups:
Control group
Seven dogs received saline wound irrigation without photobiomodulation.
830 nm PBM group
Seven dogs received the same wound irrigation plus photobiomodulation using 830 nm light.
Multi-wavelength PBM group
Seven dogs received wound irrigation plus a treatment combining 660, 875 and 905 nm light.
The researchers photographed the wounds and calculated their surface area every two days over a 15-day period. All three groups improved, which is important. After 15 days, the average reduction in wound area was:
- 42.39% in the group receiving wound care alone
- 56.98% in the 830 nm photobiomodulation group
- 61.81% in the multi-wavelength photobiomodulation group
The PBM groups began showing statistically greater wound-area reduction than the non-PBM group from day 7, and the difference persisted through much of the treatment period. Two of the seven wounds treated with multi-wavelength PBM were completely healed by the end of the 15-day study.
With only 21 dogs, this is still a small study. But because it was conducted in client-owned dogs with naturally occurring chronic wounds rather than an artificial laboratory wound model, it provides particularly interesting clinical evidence for veterinary care.
Healing below the surface
Of course, not every injury can be seen. Muscles, tendons and ligaments can be strained or damaged during running, jumping, slipping or other everyday canine adventures.
These tissues behave differently from skin, and the evidence for photobiomodulation varies depending on the particular injury being treated. Instead, we think of photobiomodulation as a supportive part of rehabilitation, with the goal of helping manage pain and inflammation and supporting tissue recovery.
That’s the important distinction: different depths of healing may require different kinds of care.
Where red light therapy fits in
Photobiomodulation uses red and near-infrared light applied to a particular area of the body. At RegenClinic, focused light treatments can be directed toward specific areas, and the clinic offers laser/light therapy for dogs and cats.
For an open wound, treatment needs may be very different from those for a muscle or ligament injury. And a hot spot may require treating allergies, parasites, infection or another underlying cause before the skin can settle.
That’s why we don’t view red light therapy as a replacement for veterinary medicine. Instead, the emerging research suggests something more complementary: light gives us another way to support damaged tissue while the body does the work of healing.
Sometimes that healing is happening right where you can see it. Sometimes it’s happening several layers beneath the surface.
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If your dog is recovering from an injury or struggling with a wound that isn’t healing as expected, start by speaking with your veterinarian. If you’d then like to explore whether light therapy could become part of their recovery plan, the RegenClinic team is here to help.
Call or text us at 250-208-4218
Email: hello@regenclinic.ca