Blue light therapy also called blue light treatment or blue light photodynamic therapy is a treatment performed by dermatologists to combat pre cancerous lesions like actinic keratosis.
Blue light therapy cancer treatment.
These lesions are typically found in areas of the body that are frequently exposed to the sun including the face head and arms.
The agent is absorbed by cells all over the body but stays in cancer cells longer than it does in normal cells.
Blue light therapy is most commonly used to treat sun damage and premalignant or malignant skin cancer growths.
Aminolevulinic acid ala or levulan is a drug that s put right on the skin.
A relatively easy procedure blue light therapy has successfully treated multiple conditions including cancer actinic keratosis a type of superficial skin cancer and acne.
Plus it doesn t cause awful side effects.
Photodynamic therapy pdt is a two stage treatment that combines light energy with a drug photosensitizer designed to destroy cancerous and precancerous cells after light activation.
It can actually be used to prevent skin cancer and remove both precancerous skin.
What is actinic keratosis.
Pdt using levulan and a proprietary blue light is currently fda approved for the treatment of early skin precancers called actinic keratoses rough scaly spots generally on sun exposed skin.
A special blue light rather than laser light is used to activate this drug.
Insurances typically cover the full cost of the treatment but this varies by insurance.
The photosensitizer is nontoxic until it is activated by light.
Blue light therapy is an fda approved in office treatment for actinic keratoses precancerous lesions.
In the first step of pdt for cancer treatment a photosensitizing agent is injected into the bloodstream.
Blue light therapy for actinic keratosis can help treat and reduce the number of precancers potentially reducing the number of full fledged skin cancers and helping in photo rejuvenation.
The treatment might be a good alternative for people who have 20 or 30 lesions he said since photodynamic therapy can treat them all at once while cryotherapy deals with each lesion individually.
During the treatment we apply a topical photosensitizing drug to the skin.
It s used to treat actinic keratosis ak a skin condition that can become cancer and is used only on the face or scalp.