It hisses, then it smokes, then it stinks – and Luca has burned ten tiny holes in a wooden spatula. The device he is holding in his hand is actually not a child’s toy. Luca is only ten years old, so you don’t normally handle high-tech medical equipment. But because the device is normally used on Luca himself, but he is under general anesthesia and therefore does not notice what is happening to him, he was allowed to try it out for himself, the new Lumenis Ultrapulse Laser in the children’s clinic of the Schwabing Hospital.
Luca is one of the first patients to be treated with the new device. Two years ago he had a serious accident when he was invited to a friend’s barbecue. The friend’s father poured alcohol into the embers, there was a flash of fire, and Luca was caught in the fire. Large parts of his skin burned, he was placed in an artificial coma, leaving scarred areas all over his body, including his face.
“A burn is never completely healed,” says Carsten Krohn, he is senior physician and head of the center for severely burned children at the Schwabinger Klinikum. For example, while leukemia in children can now be completely overcome in almost one hundred percent of cases, most burn victims have to deal with scars and the associated pain and disabilities throughout their lives. These are initially alleviated with creams, massages and compression suits.
If that doesn’t help, then there are two options. One method, which is still common at the moment, is called “medical needling” and is downright cruel: a small roll is fitted with 2.5 millimeter long needles; the doctor uses it to remove the scars of the – naturally anesthetized – patient and perforate small holes in them. This is intended to stimulate remodeling of the skin, improving collagen and connective tissue. However, this is of course a bloody affair, and the blood that has escaped must be washed off the patient’s already sensitive skin.
100,000 euros were raised at the BMW benefit concert
The second method is with the laser – it doesn’t actually do anything different than the needle-studded roller, just with highly concentrated light. As a result, the perforations are microscopically small, do not bleed or hardly at all and are also much easier to control than the mechanical version, which primarily depends on the doctor’s feeling and skill. The whole thing is probably not pleasant, which is why the patient is put under general anesthesia.
Carsten Krohn obviously enjoys the presentation of his new device on Wednesday – with growing enthusiasm he lasers hole after hole in the wooden spatula that has to replace the patient, and then guides Luca’s hand when he tries out the machine, which he already loves so much has brought and will bring relief. Medical needling would have been somewhat complicated for him because his scars extend up to his nose – “and needling on your face, you don’t really like doing that,” says Carsten Crohn.
The fact that the new device can now be used in Schwabing has something to do with Luca himself – he went out and collected around 10,000 euros from relatives and in the neighborhood. A princess and a car person took care of the much larger part, they were also present at the presentation: Ursula von Bayern and Bernd Döpke, the manager of the BMW branch in Munich. She is the patron and he is the organizer of the car dealer’s annual charity Advent concert. Only 125 spectators came live to the Cuvilliéstheater on December 13, 2021. But that was due to the corona restrictions, more than 3000 listeners worldwide followed the concert.
“There is no lack of quality in child care in Munich, but unfortunately there is often a lack of money”
At the concert, Luca reported on his fate – which probably contributed a lot to the success of the fundraiser, 100,000 euros came together in the end. That was enough to buy the laser, other sponsors ensure operation and maintenance.
“There is no lack of quality in child care in Munich, but unfortunately there is often a lack of money – our donation is exactly right here and can visibly change something,” says Bernd Döpke. And Ursula von Bayern says: “Illness in childhood is particularly tragic and it is a personal concern of mine to work towards a high level of treatment comfort.” Axel Fischer, CEO of the Munich Clinic, to which Schwabing belongs, says: “We are extremely grateful to BMW for making the procurement possible with their commitment.”
Luca has now been lasered four times, and everyone involved agrees that his scars have gotten much better. Because of the anesthesia, he doesn’t notice anything about the treatment itself, but he’s asked what kind of feeling it is afterwards. “Well,” says Luca. “Itches a bit.”