Laser Treatments to Speed Wound Healing ?

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

Has anyone tried laser treatments to heal wounds?  Were they successful? 

Spud has been in treatments since May, for what started as a spring allergy that quickly turned into cellulitis, again. 

What's been done:

• three rounds of antibiotics
• three rounds of steroids (by mouth)
• soaking in Dreft Detergent and warm water-then dry
• topical antibiotic spray - Gentamicin twice daily. 
• He started on Claritin, then Apoquel, now Allegra (Thanks F., it's the best one), but he is not itching currently and does not lick the wound. No Cone 

The wound will heal with leather-like skin, then abscess underneath.  Treatments start all over again. 

His Fall allergy season should be here soon and we all want this healed ASAP! 

Laser Treatments would need to be done 3-4 times per week. 

Thanks for your input

I'm trying to add cell phone images, but honestly, I don't know how anymore :) 

Added below in discussion

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

We did not use laser for wound healing but it worked well for inflammation from JD's herniated lumbar disc. 
I also noticed on the invoice for Jasper's neuter surgery that they did a cold laser treatment on the incision, as part of the overall procedure. I found that interesting. There was no additional charge so they must really feel that it helps with healing. 

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

Interesting.   Thank you, Karen. 

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

May- with cellulitis 

And Today

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Poor Spud! 

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Poor Spud.  I've looked at the home light treatments and I don't think they really do anything.  I think one needs a professional  set up and real laser, but they must do something helpful. I would tend to try it for him but if you don't see results pretty quickly, I'd just keep doing what you have been as long as it is working.

[Andrea, Belle and Honey]

Poor Spud. Sometimes cellulitis only responds to intravenous antibiotics. This may be something to discuss with your veterinarian? 

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

Super different but my mom had her gums lasered to help heal an infection, it's been very effective and things cleared right up.  The gum doc said it kills the bacteria so that the wound can close up.

[Kim P.]

I paid for additional laser treatments after Scout's spay surgery (one was included in the price). Not sure if it helped speed the healing but she didn't have any setbacks and she seemed pretty pain free so I don't think it hurt. I would choose it again in the future if needed. 

[Stacy]

This isn't what you asked, so please feel free to ignore unwanted internet advice, but is there any chance he could have a secondary fungal infection that is keeping it from healing? The reason I ask is the wound is so round. It reminds me a little bit  of ringworm.

Poor guy, I hope you get to the bottom of it. 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Hot spots are usually round, too. 
Totally OT, but when I was in college, I got a rash called pityriasis rosea, which is caused by wearing new cotton & linen clothing without washing it first. I went to the college clinic, and the doctor there diagnosed it as ringworm, because the rash was round. Thank God my father was an MD, lol. When I told him, he knew for a fact that I would not and did not have ringworm, and sent me to a private dermatologist who properly diagnosed it.

The moral to the story is never diagnose a skin condition by its shape, lol. 

[Stacy]

My point was just that if there is a fungal component, none of the antibiotics would help. Joanne didn't mention a wound culture. But of course I don't know. I just feel like if there is a wound that heals and then recurs for no other reason that there may be an underlying infectious process that is still a component.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Maybe, but hot spots alone are a female bitch to treat; when it's progressed to cellulitis, that means there's staph and strep bacteria present, and you know how hard it can be to get rid of that. One common strain of staphylococcus bacteria in dogs has become resistant to certain antibiotics.  I'm guessing they did do a culture to be able to diagnosis it as cellulitis, but I don't know.
I know cellulitis in humans can be life-threatening. I knew one man who was hospitalized with it and they honestly didn't know if he would survive.