Blue light promotes faster and better healing of pediatric burns

A clinical study involving 84 pediatric patients admitted to the Meyer Children Hospital (Florence, Italy) for acute burns has been published in the European Burn Journal.

The study examined the association between Blue Light Photobiomodulation (PBM) therapy and early local inflammation, time to re-epithelialization, and early scar outcomes in a comparative cohort of children with acute burns.

Burn injuries in children remain a significant clinical challenge because wound healing must be achieved while preserving  skin function and limiting the risk of long-term scarring. In addition to burn depth and extent, the duration of wound closure is particularly relevant in pediatric patients, as delayed re-epithelialization is associated with prolonged inflammation and a greater risk of hypertrophic scar formation. Inflammation is an essential component of the normal response to thermal injury; however, when prolonged or poorly regulated, it may interfere with re-epithelialization and subsequent tissue remodeling.  Strategies capable of modulating the early wound environment without interfering with physiological repair may therefore represent a useful adjunct to established burn-care protocols. The Authors hypothesized that Blue Light Photobiomodulation, used as an adjunct to standard of care, would be associated with a lower local inflammatory response at 72 hours compared with the use of standard of care alone.

The reported results in this retrospective historical cohort of pediatric patients with deep thermal burns confirmed that the additional use of Blue light Photobiomodulation was associated with a more favourable early inflammatory response, as well as a shorter time to complete re-epithelialisation and better early scar quality compared with standard burn care alone.

Read a summary of the study.