Cold Laser - Anyone Have Their Own Machine?

[NeylasMom]

Does anyone have their own cold laser machine? I take Zuri for cold laser twice per month, but I know he could benefit from far more frequent treatment if we had one at home. And I would love to use it on myself too! I always considered them cost prohibitive, but looking into it more seriously now. Would love any input from those who have researched and/or bought their own.

 

So far I've read about some of the differences in terms of class, power output, etc and the cheapest one so far that seems equivalent to the professional ones runs $2700, which is more than I'd like to spend. Anyway, any input welcome.

Edited May 13, 2016 by NeylasMom

[Remolacha]

My vet has a laser machine, but apparently it is not a cold laser. Not sure what the difference is, but she said she had been thinking about getting a cold laser, but they were pretty expensive. I know Conner would benefit from weekly treatments, but it sounds like the machines are way outside my price range!

[NeylasMom]

I think the main difference is "hot" lasers have more potential to damage skin, etc. Though the cold laser still gets warm.

 

The other potential issue outside of upfront cost is maintenance. If something broke, I have no idea how difficult or expensive it would be to find someone to fix it.

[krissy]

A good laser machine costs quite a bit. One of our clinics owns a small, used, portable unit and I believe it cost $6000. We bought it from another hospital. The Companion Lasers that a lot of clinics have are relatively large and can cost upwards of $10000 new I believe (depends on what model, some are up to $20000 from what I've been told).

 

You also need to know what you're doing with a laser. The Companion Lasers have pretty straight forward settings based on the size of animal, size of treatment area, colour of skin, etc, but a lot of other lasers simply ask you to input the power and time and it's up to the user to know what the setting should be.

 

Ultimately, you're probably still best off to visit your regular provider for laser therapy since they are licensed.

[Guest LazyBlaze]

This is interesting to me as I'm currently in the same situation with Blaze and looking for something that might help him. Have come across the Photizo Vetcare, which is light therapy rather than laser but seems to get decent reviews, but costs £200+ so would rather have feedback from someone who's used it. Anyway, will follow this thread with interest. My physio suggested the Biomag 2, with photo attachment (class 3 I believe), but it seems more an electro-magnetic device with a laser attachment as extra. Again, it's upwards of £200. An expensive business!

[NeylasMom]

200 I would welcome, it's the 2,000 that hurts! I'll look into the ones you mentioned. I read that class 4 is the best, but there seem to be some class 3's that have good power that are just or nearly as good. Of course one thing to consider is if the lower cost ones work, but just not as well treatment as frequently as I can give it with that versus only twice a month with the more powerful one might be better. Even if I could afford it, it's the time to get to/from my vet that makes doing it more frequently prohibitive. So if it's an issue of degree versus some work and others don't...

[moofie]

Throp has laser at the hydro/physo therapy centre but i'll have to ask what type it is, sounds like killi's description of that portable companion laser as has size settings .Throp was sore day after when the setting wasn't quite right, he has laser fortnightly now with a massage but previously weekly with water treadmill session. Our ortho vet did recommend 3 x a week short term was most effective, i got the impression physio view maybe different but they can't really go against vet and certainly that frequency would be a PITA with work, things changed so we never tried it. Throp's also had shockwave therapy on humerus (old fracture) area previously at the ortho vets but that requires a quick GA

 

Thankfully pet insurance covers his treatment but its not cheap per session so can see why your considering buying your own machine if for more than 1 patient. We could have the laser done at vets or physio (easier as open more), so have you looked to see if its offered anywhere closer so less additional time/expense. The mag boxes do seem rated on lurcher/greyhound forums but i don't know much about them.

Edited May 14, 2016 by moofie

[seeh2o]

The one my vet has is human quality, cost $30,000. That made the $25 per visit I pay look pretty good...I was toying with the idea of getting one, too, Jen!

[NeylasMom]

The one my vet has is human quality, cost $30,000. That made the $25 per visit I pay look pretty good...I was toying with the idea of getting one, too, Jen!

Yeah, no $30K machines here.

[Guest LazyBlaze]

This is interesting to me as I'm currently in the same situation with Blaze and looking for something that might help him. Have come across the Photizo Vetcare, which is light therapy rather than laser but seems to get decent reviews, but costs £200+ so would rather have feedback from someone who's used it. Anyway, will follow this thread with interest. My physio suggested the Biomag 2, with photo attachment (class 3 I believe), but it seems more an electro-magnetic device with a laser attachment as extra. Again, it's upwards of £200. An expensive business!

 

Not to reply to myself ( ) but rather to add a bit more info:

 

I've looked further into the Biomag 2 and the main unit costs £592, while the photo-attachment (called the Imita 30) costs an additional £273. The manufacturer is Westville. This puts it out of my own affordable price range, but the info might still be helpful to someone else. Blaze's physio recommended it to me as the unit she used at the vet hospital before they got their class IV laser. Although not as powerful as the class IV, the photo-attachment on this unit still gave good results on soft tissue injuries she said.

 

The class IV lasers are crazy expensive, and as others have said above, are very powerful, so you need to know what you're doing. I'm pretty much resigned to just getting this level of treatment at the vet hospital, but I'd still like to be able to do something that might help at home in between times. The information out there on Class 3s seems murky. I will ask the physio for her thoughts on the Photizo. £200 is still a lot of money to potentially chuck down the drain if it wouldn't be of use, so I'd rather gather as much feedback as possible.

[smurfette]

I work with cold laser therpayfor years but I don't have one myself. Thes are great for speeding up the healing process in tissue wounds and a session only costs 6 euros at my vet's. That's quite okay.

I'm very interested in the cold laser accupuncture my boys get once a month. I'd like to have one of those lasers myself but you have to know exactly what you are doing. So - first learning about accupuncture, than buying a laser... I started this year and in 4 years I will be where I want to be...hopefully.

 

There are so many things to learn...

[Hubcitypam]

Totally random and probably stupid question, but if you bought the machine would there also be costs to keeping it calibrated or something?

[NeylasMom]

Totally random and probably stupid question, but if you bought the machine would there also be costs to keeping it calibrated or something?

That was one of my questions above, not stupid at all. Basically what additional costs might be for maintenance and repair. I don't think the ones designed for home use require routine maintenance. The expensive ones at least come with a 2 year warranty to start. But I haven't gotten a lot of info on this yet. I was in for a session with Zuri when my vet's machine went wonky and we had to go home, which is what brought the question to mind in the first place.

[tbhounds]

The one my vet has is human quality, cost $30,000. That made the $25 per visit I pay look pretty good...I was toying with the idea of getting one, too, Jen!

The one I used in the last clinic I worked at was $30,000 too. I have to say however, I did see some amazing results.

[seeh2o]

Totally random and probably stupid question, but if you bought the machine would there also be costs to keeping it calibrated or something?

Not a stupid question at all, but all medical equipment must be calibrated regularly, absolutely.

Edited May 14, 2016 by seeh2o

[seeh2o]

This vendor was at the PetExpo last month. I don't know anything about it, it could be a total hoax or a fantastic device to use at home, but it was under $200.

www.LumaSoothe.com. If anyone has experience or insight about it, please share. I thought about getting one, but I'm spoiled by the cold laser at my vet's office.

[NeylasMom]

I'm going to look into this one further, the $575 package:

http://www.vetrolaser.com/site/ef14aef9e216484ea9ef827981da2bfa/home?url=http%3A%2F%2Fvetrolaser.com%2F#3094

 

It's not as powerful as some, but there's another well reviewed unit by another company that is a bit more powerful (450mW instead of 300) and that company also has the 300 version for $2250. I think one big difference is the above unit clearly states it's for animal use so I am pretty positive it's not FDA approved, which makes it a riskier purchase. But it does have a 2 year guarantee. Going to do a little more research and email the company some questions. $600 bucks I could handle.

 

This vendor was at the PetExpo last month. I don't know anything about it, it could be a total hoax or a fantastic device to use at home, but it was under $200.

www.LumaSoothe.com. If anyone has experience or insight about it, please share. I thought about getting one, but I'm spoiled by the cold laser at my vet's office.

Thanks. Looks like that's an LED device. Could be useful, but a different thing than the cold laser devices. Edited May 15, 2016 by NeylasMom

[Guest LazyBlaze]

Thanks NeylasMom, that one does look interesting. Probably still too expensive for me but something to think about.

 

Another possible option I've come across just yesterday is the Handy Cure Therapeutic Laser.

The laser spec part of it is:

TECHNICAL INFORMATION

power laser radiation: 0.4 - 6.25 mW
wavelength laser radiation: 905nm
laser power 25W

 

Does that sound decent or rubbish given what you've been learning so far? It also has Infrared (875nm) and visible light (635nm). I'm not sure if the laser part is powerful enough to do much more than the light therapy devices like Photizo do. I'm struggling to know which lasers are Class III and which Class II, and am not sure whether Class IIs are effective or not. It's a learning curve for sure.

[NeylasMom]

Looks like that one is a class I laser and the 2 lower wavelengths are LED. This website has been the most helpful for me in figuring out how to sort through the info and options:

http://www.coldlasers.org/lasers-dogs-vets-companion-pets/

[Guest LazyBlaze]

Thank you NM, that's a really useful website.

 

On further investigation the Handy Cure is a Class 1M, which is better than a Class 1or 2 but not as good as a Class 3. Looks as though the Class 3s are all out of my price range, but it's possible that a Class 1M would be better than nothing in between Blaze's sessions at the vet hospital.