LASER TREATMENT
Alternative Treatments for Facial Neuralgias

Disclaimer.

Lasers have been used surprisingly little in the treatment of TN and neuralgias in general. However, an experimental treatment exists in which the painful nerve is irradiated with a low-energy laser beam.

The exact mechanism behind the laser treatment remains unclear. It is not a gangliolytic treatment, since the nerve is apparently not lesioned or otherwise damaged. Two scientific double-blind studies are known to have been made, both of which indicated at least short-term relief from the treatment. (The abstracts are quoted below, in accordance with the Fair Use Policy). However, it is not known whether these studies included any long-term follow-up.

TITLE: Relief from chronic pain by low power laser irradiation
AUTHOR: Walker_J
NAME: The Pain Institute, Los Angeles, CA 90025, USA
JOURNAL: Neuroscience Letters, 1983, Vol.43, No.2-3, pp.339-344

ABSTRACT: " In a double blind study, repeated irradiation with a low-power (1 mW) helium-neon laser produced relief in subjects with chronic pain. Analgesia was  observed after exposure of the skin overlying the radial, medial and saphenous nerves and in some cases, irradiation of the appropriate painful nerve. Exposure of areas of skin not innervated by these nerves did not result in pain relief. Of the patients with trigeminal neuralgia, post-herpetic neuralgia, sciatica and osteoarthritis, 19 of 26 experienced pain relief without the use of drugs. Patients who received sham stimulation reported no analgesia. Subjects who were exposed to laser irradiation had a large increase in the urinary excretion of 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid, the degradation product of serotonin."

TITLE: Laser therapy for pain of trigeminal neuralgia
AUTHOR: Walker_JB, Akhanjee_LK, Cooney_MM, Goldstein_J, Tamayoshi_S, SegalGidan_F
NAME: Walker Institute, Pacific Palisades, CA, USA
JOURNAL: Clinical Journal of Pain, 1987, Vol.3, No.4, pp.183-187

ABSTRACT: "Human subjects received irradiation of the skin overlying peripheral nerves with a helium-neon laser (1 mW, 632.5 nm, 20 Hz) for 20 s to each site. This treatment was accompanied by irradiation of the skin overlying painful facial areas for 30- 90 s according to a predetermined protocol. Control subjects received placebo treatment by an apparatus that looked identical to the laser apparatus but emitted no radiation. Laser or placebo therapy was repeated 3 times a week for 10 weeks. Subjects in the experimental group exhibited a statistically significant reduction in the intensity of pain as measured by the visual analog scale (p < 0.002) and the number of painful episodes. These results, combined with previous research, indicate that laser therapy may provide relief from some kinds of chronic pain."

Web links:

What is Low Intensity Laser Therapy, LILT, LLLT

Acknowledgements. Tim Fitzmaurice dug up references to laser surgery in the medical literature.