Based on the concept that hair follicle, especially sebaceous gland, can be intensively and selectively stained by ICG due to dye diffusion through pilosebaceous canal and its fast uptake by living microorganisms, by vital keratinocytes of epithelium of the canal and sebaceous duct, and by rapidly proliferating sebocytes, new technologies of soft and thermal acne lesions treatment that could be used in clinical treatment of acne were proposed.

Near infrared (NIR) diode laser low-intensity (soft) phototherapy with the topical application of indocyanine green (ICG) has been suggested for treatment of acne vulgaris. Twelve volunteers with acne lesions on their faces and/or backs were enrolled in the experiment. Skin areas of the subjects that were 4 x 5 cm2 were stained with ICG solution for 5 min before laser irradiation (803 nm) at a power density up to 50 mW/cm2 for 5 to 10 min. For 75% of the subjects, a single treatment was provided and for the other 25%, eight sequential treatments over a period of a month were carried out. Observations a month after the completion of the treatment showed that only the multiple treatments with a combination of ICG and NIR irradiation reduced inflammation and improved the state of the skin for a month without any side effects. A month after treatment, the improvement was about 80% for the group receiving multiple treatments. Single treatments did not have a prolonged effect.

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The goal of this work was to evaluate the safety and efficacy of the Red Light Emitted Toothbrush (R-LETB) emitting at wavelength of 663 nm with power density of 3.3 mW/cm2 in combination with 0.1%-methylene blue (MB) solution for the reduction of plaque and treatment of gingivitis. A microbiological in vitro study and a pilot clinical study were conducted. The microbiological study has shown total suppression of pathogenic flora after a 3-min exposure to the dye solution followed by a 20-sec treatment with the R-LETB. For the clinical study, 37 subjects of both sexes with gingivitis were enrolled and randomly assigned to one of two groups. Subjects in the first (treatment) group were instructed to rinse their mouth with MB solution provided for 1 min and then brush the teeth with the R-LETB and standardized toothpaste. The second (control) group used only the toothpaste and a regular toothbrush. Subjects in both groups followed their respective procedures 2 times a day (morning and evening) for 30 days. Indices of plaque, gingival bleeding, and inflammation were evaluated at 14-day and 30-day timepoints. In the both groups, all indices improved in comparison with baseline. However, the treatment group demonstrated more pronounced improvement of the studied indices that was attributed to additional anti-microbial action of red light and MB on gum tissue. Thus, the use of R-LETB with MB appears to have a multifactor therapeutic action on oral pathological microflora: mechanical removal of the bacteria and suppressing action on microorganisms due to photodynamic reaction.

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