A Refractory Labial Fissured Cheilitis Treated with Low Level Laser Therapy (L.L.L.T) ^†

1. Introduction

Several studies in the literature show that Low Level Laser Therapy (L.L.L.T) is effective in the treatment of oral symptomatic soft tissue lesions such as recurrent aphthous stomatitis, herpes labialis, mucositis, erosive lichen planus.

Fissured cheilitis labialis is a lesion that affects the center of the lower lip characterized by fissures, desquamation, erythema and crusts. The aetiology is usually multifactorial, due to a primary infection and/or non-infectious causes, such as mechanical irritation, nutritional deficiency or other dermatological conditions. Drug therapy is usually a combination of topical antifungals and antibacterials and glucocorticosteroid [1].

2. Materials and Methods

A 21 years old male patient went to my observation for a refractory lesion in the lower lip. (Figure 1) The anamnesis was negative for systemic pathologies. A diagnosis of fissured cheilitis labialis was made. The patient has reported suffering for years of this pathology, which was refractory to any type of topical therapy, also on a cortisone basis. The patient was subjected to 3 sessions of L.L.L.T with Nd: YAG laser (impulses of 25 ms, 1.55 w and 50 j/cm²) for 3 application of 4 min each whit a 3-min intermission at the day 3, 6, 10.

3. Results

After the first photobiomodulation session we already noticed a marked improvement in the tissues. At 10 days from the first treatment with L.L.L.T the complete and total healing of the lesion was obtained with restitutio ad integrum of the affected area (Figure 2).

4. Conclusions

In L.L.LT, the energy of the laser beam is absorbed by the intracellular chromophore resulting in a specific response: increased cellular metabolism, improved blood circulation, increased ATP production, proliferation of all cells involved in tissue defense and repair, increased cellular respiration, increased growth factor release and new collagen synthesis. The L.L.L.T. has proved to be an extremely effective therapy in refractory fissured chelitis labialis [2,3,4].