Wound healing in porcine skin following low-output carbon dioxide laser irradiation of the incision.

Wound healing of scalpel incisions to the depth of adipose tissue closed with conventional methods was compared with closure by low-output carbon dioxide laser irradiation. In 3 Pitman-Moore minipigs wound healing was evaluated at intervals from 1 to 90 days by the following methods: clinical variables of wound healing; formation of the basement membrane components bullous pemphigoid antigen, laminin, and fibronectin; and histological evaluation of the regeneration of the epidermis, neovascularization, and elastin and collagen formation. There was no significant difference in healing between wounds closed by the various conventional methods and by the low-output carbon dioxide laser.