Lasers are agents of healing
Does laser therapy make you think of James Bond strapped to a table about to be sliced in half by a beam of burning light?
Roger Dumoulin-White had similar ideas running through his head when his dad called him in 1994 and asked him to come over and see how a low-level laser device worked.
At the time he said, “Dad, you’ve got to be kidding me. It’s going to burn you.”
Fast forward 15 years and Dumoulin-White is the president, CEO and chief researcher of Theralase Technologies, the company he founded the year his dad introduced him to the laser device.
Though he was a non-believer at first, Dumoulin-White says he became so intrigued with the idea that light could heal tissue that he researched it for a year-and-a-half before travelling to Belgium to meet the creator of the device his dad introduced him to.
As soon as he got off the plane from Belgium, the electrical engineer formerly in charge of a 400-person department at Ford Motor’s electronics division says he marched into Ford’s human resources department and resigned.
Theralase recently relocated to the Don Mills Rd. and Eglinton Ave. East area from Markham, Ont. The company manufactures and distributes therapeutic low-laser devices, also housing a laser treatment centre at its 600-square metre headquarters.
The technology the company has developed is a small device — the size of a telephone, Dumoulin-White says. Essentially the laser puts light into cells and gives them energy, which first stimulates healing and then allows the cells to heal themselves at a faster rate, he says.
Theralase’s treatment centre includes programs for injuries like neck and shoulder pain, degenerative conditions like arthritis and even addictions like smoking. The company’s latest branch of study is cancer research with the University Health Network.
If you’re still worrying about James Bond, the company uses a cold laser technology that doesn’t produce heat. It’s a type of laser that’s to be distinguished from high-level surgical lasers used for facial resurfacing and tattoo removal, Dumoulin-White says.
“That destroys things.”
That kind of laser can’t be used for therapeutic use as it’s thermal, he says, meaning if it lingers on the skin it can actually burn holes in it. Dumoulin-White recalls going to a trade show where an inexperienced demonstrator of a high-level laser burnt a hole in an onlooker’s pants.
Clinic director Rhonda Mostyn says the low-level laser treatment is beneficial because it’s non-surgical.
“It’s a non-invasive treatment,” says Mostyn, also a certified laser technician. “Most people feel nothing.”
The company has invested millions of dollars in clinical trials to earn Health Canada and FDA approval for the laser device, Dumoulin-White says. The trials must demonstrate the device’s safety and effectiveness before it can be licensed.
“It means a lot for the consumer,” he says of the designations. “It provides a lot of assurances.”
If people are shopping around for laser therapy treatments, Dumoulin-White recommends asking about what type or class of laser device the practitioner is using, he says. A 3-D class applies to the low-level non-heating laser his company uses, whereas a 4-level class refers to the high-level thermal lasers.
Dumoulin-White also suggests asking the name of the device or the manufacturer. Health Canada has an online tool called the Medical Devices Active Licence Listing (MDALL) (available at www.hc-sc.gc.ca/dhp-mps/md-im/licen/mdlic-eng.php) that allows users to search the directory for companies that have been Health Canada approved.
Look for an active license, Dumoulin-White says. “If not I would certainly avoid it,” he says.
Though he says the technology has been used in Europe for 20 years, it’s starting to take hold in Canada.
“It’s knocking at the door,” he says. “It’s been fringe for 30 years.”