Photobiomodulation Therapy: A New Light in the Treatment of Systemic Sclerosis Skin Ulcers

Introduction: Skin ulcers (SU) represent one of the most frequent manifestations of systemic sclerosis (SSc), occurring in almost 50% of scleroderma patients. SSc-SU are often particularly difficult to treat with conventional systemic and local therapies. In this study, a preliminary evaluation of the role and effectiveness of blue light photobiomodulation (PBM) therapy with EmoLED in the treatment of scleroderma skin ulcers (SSc-SU) was performed.

Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 12 consecutive SSc patients with a total of 15 SU on finger hands. All patients were treated with adequate systemic therapy and local treatment for SU; after a standard skin ulcer bed preparation with debridement of all lesions, EmoLED was performed. All patients were locally treated every week during 2 months of follow-up; SU data were collected after 4 weeks (T4) and 8 weeks (T8). Eight SSc patients with comparable SU were also evaluated as controls.

Results: The application of EmoLED in addition to debridement apparently produced faster healing of SU. Complete healing of SU was recorded in 41.6% cases during EmoLED treatment. Significant improvements in SU area, length, and width, wound bed, and related pain were observed in EmoLED patients from T0 to T8. Control subjects treated with standard systemic/local therapies merely showed an amelioration of SU area and width at the end of the follow-up. No procedural or post-procedural adverse events were reported.

Conclusions: The positive clinical results and the absence of side effects suggest that EmoLED could be a promising tool in the management of SSc-SU, with an interesting role to play in the healing process in addition to conventional systemic and local treatments.