In this week’s edition of Wellness Wednesday, Action News Now anchor Hayley Watts speaks with Dr. Shane Smith of TrueU Wellness in Chico about using laser technology to help treat sleep apnea.
CHICO, Calif. – A Chico clinic is using laser technology to treat sleep apnea without the need for heavy machinery at bedtime.
Dr. Shane Smith, a chiropractor at TrueU Wellness said sleep apnea affects more people that you might think.
“I had no idea how prolific it was, over 50% of society has it including children and nobody knows. And it can create high blood pressure. And you’re suffocating a night time,” Smith said.
The clinic uses the Fotona Timewalker laser as an alternative to traditional sleep apnea solutions. The device is a non-ablative laser, meaning it doesn’t burn or cut tissue.
“It heats up the tissue in the targeted areas of the throat that we want to approach and stimulates them to go through autophagy. Meaning the cells get warm enough that they say ‘we’re too hot, let’s go ahead and delete ourselves’, and they literally die off,” Smith said.
Smith said the treatment typically requires about 3 sessions over 6 weeks. Results can be seen immediately though after the first procedure.
“In the course of a session you can watch someone’s pallet begin to rise and the airway literally begins to dilate. It’s astonishing,” Smith said.
The laser can also perform procedures similar to a facelift or treat scar tissue.