Minimally Invasive Laser Treatment for Back Pain
If you suffer from agonizing back or neck pain and other related symptoms as a result of conditions like a herniated disc or sciatica, PLDD (Percutaneous Laser Disc Decompression) offers quick relief with many benefits over traditional surgery. Contact AllSpine Laser and Surgery Center today to schedule a consultation.
What is Laser Back Surgery?
The concept of laser spine surgery is a minimally invasive procedure used to heal back pain and allow anyone experiencing pain due to spinal issues to live normal lives. If you are eligible for a laser spinal operation you can have the surgery with or without general anesthesia since it’s just a needle insertion at the site of a herniated disc. A laser instrument is fed through the needle and is X-Ray guided to the location of the disruptive disc, and utilizes heat to decompress the spinal disc. Once decompressed, pressure on your spinal nerves is released and your pain will subside.
Herniated Disc Laser Surgery
Laser spine surgery can be used to treat herniated discs wherein the spinal disc is bulging onto your spinal cord nerves. When your nerves are pinched like this it causes pain, numbness, and possibly weakness in the legs or feet. As mentioned, using the advanced laser tool with a minimally invasive needle the laser can heat up the inner nucleus of your herniated disc. The evaporation of the bulging nucleus causes the disc to return to a normal size, and removes the pinching pressure on the spinal nerves.
Lower Back Pain Relief
The most common area to experience herniated discs or bulging discs is in the lower back, where they can cause chronic pain. Symptoms can ramp up if the herniated disc is left untreated, and the radicular pain may make it difficult to use your legs or walk around. At this point laser surgery may be considered as a possible solution. Laser spine surgery is an effective treatment for lower back pain relief, and also has the major benefit of being minimally invasive.
Laser Back Surgery Success Rate
Laser spine surgery (or PLDD) has a success rate of 50-70% on eligible patients. Compared to more invasive surgeries like spinal fusion, which requires metal plates, screws, and bone grafts in order to fuse vertebrae, this success rate is quite good. The recovery period is also much shorter, since it doesn’t require any cutting. This is a truly outpatient procedure to relieve back or neck pain.
How Safe is Laser Spine Surgery?
Because there isn’t any cutting involved with laser spinal surgery it is a safe procedure with minimal complications. A majority of patients experience little to no discomfort, and the most common side effect is some pain at the needle injection site over a period of days. Infection is a possible complication, as it is with all surgery, however proper sanitization reduces this risk significantly.
How Much Does Laser Spine Surgery Cost?
The cost of laser surgery for back pain varies based on the patient and the spinal disorder that needs to be treated. You will have to speak to a doctor in order to determine what kind of cost is realistic for a laser spinal surgery.