PHOTOTHERAPY/PODIATRY: Laser treatment of nail fungus approved by FDA
Alma Lasers (Buffalo Grove, IL) has won approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use of its multi-application HarmonyXL system for the treatment of onychomycosis, a.k.a. nail fungus.
This new application is an exciting new aesthetic laser protocol that allows for not one but two distinct laser technologies to treat the appearance of nail fungus from the inside out.
Typically, treatment of onychomycosis is challenging because the infection is embedded within the nail and is difficult to reach. But Alma Lasers' innovative Q-switched, 1064 nm Nd:YAG laser with its KTP 532 nm tip creates micro-cavitations and acoustic shock waves on the surface of the nail plate which then get transmitted to the nail bed, causing mechanical damage in the irradiated fungal colony that may decapsulate the fungus spores.
In addition, the yellow and brown streaks that cover the nail are eliminated thanks to the green light of the Q-switched KTP 532 nm, which is well absorbed by red and brown pigments of the infected nail microorganism. The Nd:YAG 1064 nm laser module causes non-specific heat conduction on the entire nail, thermally deactivating the unwanted microorganism.
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