Light therapy is a complement to traditional wound care protocols, explains Meredith Mitchell, DVM, cVMA, practice owner, Epic Equine in Wellington, Florida.

“It’s been a really big game changer for me and my practice,” she says. “Even clients that are a little skeptical are having me come back for more cases because they can see for themselves how much more quickly wounds heal when using light therapy.”

Mitchell is constantly tackling equine skin lesions caused by allergies, lacerations, cuts to the mouth from bit issues, scratches, and summer sores. Her ambulatory equine practice cares for both high-level performance athletes and pleasure horses.

About Light Therapy

Light therapy utilizes nonionizing light sources in the visible and infrared spectrum, which results in increased energy available for skin cells to heal.¹

In 2022 Mitchell began using Phovia Fluorescent Light Therapy in her dermatology treatment protocols. The system uses an LED lamp that emits low-energy blue light, which activates a topically applied chromophore gel to create fluorescent light energy. This fluorescent light energy helps speed up skin cell regeneration and growth, leading to quicker healing times.^¹

One Phovia session of two minutes, twice a week—or four minutes, once a week—is all that is needed to speed healing. Phovia does not contain antibiotics, steroids, or immunomodulating drugs that could interfere with eligibility for competition.

“If there’s an avenue where I’m going to get increased healing time, I’m going to go for it and give it a try,” she says.

Replacing Lasers

Previously, Mitchell used red lasers to promote faster skin healing, but she switched to Phovia after seeing better results.

“The way we’re using these horses, they don’t get a lot of time off for the skin to heal,” she says. “Horses get thrown out of the ring because of blood. I treated a couple of deep, bleeding scratch cases with Phovia, and, with just a few treatments, the scratch healed over. The owners and trainers may have been dealing with these issues for up to six months, and I come in and resolve it in less than a month with a couple of treatments.”

Treating Tough Cases

In addition to performance athletes, Mitchell also treats retired horses, such as two patients with equine Cushing’s disease. Metabolic horses often have prolonged healing times, she explains. After debriding a summer sore in one Cushing’s patient, the horse was left with a wound from the knee to the fetlock. She treated him with back-to-back Phovia treatments once a week, reapplied steroid cream and fly repellent, then covered the wound with DermaGel.

“I saw the difference in this case,” Mitchell says. “Owners see the value, too. This is a treatment where you can just see it yourself.”

Phovia is a registered trademark of Vetoquinol S.A. It is manufactured by Klox Technologies and distributed by Vetoquinol USA under license from Klox Technologies.

1. Marchegiani, A., et al. (2021) The Effectiveness of Fluorescent Light Energy as Adjunct Therapy in Canine Deep Pyoderma: A Randomized Clinical Trial. Vet Med In