What is Carpal Tunnel Laser Surgery?

Carpel tunnel syndrome also abbreviated as CTS is a condition that causes weakness and a lot of pain to the wrist. CTS develop as a result of problems with wrist nerves. This means that the condition is not associated with muscles as many believe. The symptoms of this condition can range from mild to severe.

The need for a less invasive treatment method for CTS has been satisfied with the new laser technology. People usually hear of the laser technology and its use in medical setup but many have become confused about how complex is the technology. In this article, am going to focus on the use of laser surgery in treatment of carpal tunnel surgery and different power levels as they are applied.

How common is carpal tunnel Laser surgery?

Laser technology and surgery has found a broad usage in the world of cosmetics and medical applications. It has been used in removing of:

• Tattoos
• Sunspots
• Scars
• Stretch marks
• Birth marks
• Wrinkles
• Removal of unwanted hair

With its use in the above mentioned procedures, laser surgery success has been seen but it solely depends on the degree of the damage of the skin and the experience of the surgeon.

More advanced uses of laser surgery include more invasive surgeries where the advantages of the laser can result from the tissue being cauterized and severed from the energy intensity from the sharp laser light.

Again, I would like to emphasize that the experience of the surgeon is the key to success of laser surgery. A good example of laser surgery is the carpal tunnel laser surgery where the surgeon needs to correct the tunnel by surgically extending it. This can help reduce the symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome.

Carpal tunnel laser surgery has been talked about by many people but the real this is that this is a misnomer. No one can do the surgery making the transverse carpal ligament sever with a laser. That cannot be a good use of the laser scalpels. What is done to treat carpal tunnel syndrome is to use a low level laser surgery to help stimulate blood proper circulation and also disperse swelling.

This surgery or therapy can be so helpful in reducing the symptoms of CTS. This procedure is neither expensive nor time consuming when it comes to temporal relief of CTS symptoms. Cold laser therapy and carpal solution therapy can be used together to act as a complementary treatment for long-term relief of CTS symptoms.

Cold laser therapy: how does it work?

Cold lasers also known as low-level lasers or non-thermal lasers are used to treat pain in and soft tissue injuries. This repetitive therapy uses a red-beam that resembles infrared laser with a wavelength ranging between 600- 1000 nanometers. They also contain a voltage of about 5-500 milli-watts.

To give an estimated idea of the amount of power of power used in cold laser therapy, the amount of power used during surgical processes is around 300 watts or at least 600 times more than the power used in cold laser therapy or low-level therapy.

When you apply them on the skin, cold lasers give no sensation of any type and do not also burn the skin or the neighboring tissues. Low level laser have low absorption by the human skin and the surface tissue that’s why they are applied mainly to the injury area or area with pain.

According some research, cold laser therapy laser light can penetrate in deep tissues where it induces a photo-bio-stimulative effect. It real mechanism of action on the carpal tunnel and other painful conditions has not well been identified. Scientists and some supporters argue that it works by improving cellular repair through stimulating the vascular, immune and lymphatic systems. This is not well proven and can only be judged by the results it gives. Cold laser therapy can be used together with carpal solution therapy by it is very expensive and also time consuming.

One published regimen of cold laser therapy for CTS is composed of application of the laser by a healthcare practitioner at a clinic. The laser was used 3 times a week and for five week to treat carpal tunnel syndrome. The treatment was meant to relief wrist and hand pain that is as a result of carpal tunnel syndrome. Other procedure where the cold laser was applied to body joints acupuncture is known as laser acupuncture.

It is advisable to visit your doctor for a low-level therapy every three weeks for a period of 5 months for temporal relief of pain associated with CTS. This process can be much expensive as well as consuming your free time provided that you go to relief the symptoms temporary.

Risks and side effects

In case you decide to have a carpal tunnel surgery, it would not do you any good to perform a tunnel surgery with the use of a laser since it would make the pain of the transverse carpal ligament very severe. The major advantage is that this ligament contains less blood vessels and tissues that would cause excessive bleeding. This being the case, cauterizing of the laser as it cuts into the wrist is not of great benefit.

If you use a laser to cut through the transverse carpal ligament, then you need to use high powered surgical laser to perform the procedure. If the beam of light accidentally encounters the median nerve, it can do a thorough and permanent damage to it. Even though other invasive and conventional surgeries are more risky, use of invasive solution in this type of surgery cannot permanently fix the problem from carpal tunnel syndrome.

Bottom Line

Pain and discomfort which comes with carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) can become so cruel and debilitating. Whether you are a computer professional user or a hair stylist you may be looking for an alternative treatment from the invasive surgery that may expose you to some risks and complications. Many CTS patients have undergone many conventional therapies with less or no success. Some medical practitioners have begun promoting the new laser technology as an alternative for the invasive carpal tunnel surgery.