Abstract
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The fruitfulness of medical data communicated extensively in congresses and journals in many cases surpasses the capacity of available possibilities to analyze the true level of the contribution of the various studies. How then do we face all of these events? We need to consider that the transfer of information between colleagues implies generosity and scientific maturity. Therefore, communication of data should be transparent, concise, easy to interpret, and practical to apply.
With the clinical application of light as a therapy it is not enough to only make observations public, it is also important to explain in detail how the process took place. It is necessary to give a hypothesis aiming to clarify the phenomenon of the physical nature observed. If this does not occur, then observations risk becoming discredited and losing their clarity, specific acceptance, and clinical function. 2
I am not stating forceful arguments, but rather simply adjusting the potential functions of a therapeutic application to be known in a more precise way. Explaining the nature of an effect through actual practical facts will serve the purpose first, of medical practice, which is solidly fighting disease. And, in aesthetics, an area in which phototherapy is extensively used, pursuing the practice of a treatment should always be considered, as a means of seeking to communicate details related to tissue reaction in order to improve the understanding of its action and effects. Only in this way will therapeutic observations be explained convincingly. I believe that this is the rational basis for transparent information and clear understanding.
Are there any bullet points to help us undertake our photomedical tasks in a better and safer way? Perhaps I can suggest the following: • Be analytical about your therapeutic aim. A short- to medium-term checkup contributes to and facilitates changes that optimize the quality of efficacy. • Be in closer control of your medical performance, with care, in order to decide what is best for each clinical indication. • Be realistic in your expectation of results. Most often a single therapy cannot operate as the remedy of choice. • Be rational in using an appropriate sequence of treatments, and develop a plan beforehand. This should be flexible and adaptable to unforeseen circumstances that can arise. • Be prepared to change your plans for healing and fighting disease, using whatever positive action is necessary to improve what you have already applied. • Be observant, keeping in mind what Albert Einstein once said: “If you are expecting better results than those that others have obtained, do not walk down the path they did.”
Thanks to the multiple applications that photomedicine has to offer, such an approach will serve practical actions, and provide the pleasure of satisfaction derived from observing the recovery of normal anatomy and health, as well as the achievement of beauty in an elegant treatment.