Laser Spine Surgery: How it works, Risks, Benefits, Recovery & Alternatives for Back Pain

Herniated disc can cause back or neck pain, arm or leg discomfort and even advance into more complicated syndromes such as sciatica, pinched nerves, radiculopathy, or myelopathy. We call pain originating in a damaged disc “discogenic” pain.

There are 23 intervertebral discs in the spinal column. These discs are soft tissue joints composed of a hydraulic gelatinous core called the nucleus pulposus encased within a firm outer collagen wall termed the annulus fibrosus. The discs protect the spinal vertebrae and nerves from sudden impact and absorb shock from movements of the spine like bending, twisting, and jumping. 

Unfortunately, the disc’s outer wall, the annulus fibrosus, can develop traumatic tears (annular tear), allowing the jelly-like nucleus pulposus to push backward out of the tear into the spinal canal or neural foramen. 

The part of the jelly nucleus pulposus that pushes out through the tear is called the herniation. In many cases, this hernia can impinge on a nerve, giving rise to inflammation and irritation of the affected nerve.

Treatment for a herniated disc

Herniated discs can easily be repaired with laser spine surgery at Deuk Spine Institute using state-of-the-art minimally invasive endoscopic techniques. 

The Deuk Laser Disc Repair is the only proven, peer-reviewed, and published surgery that uniquely treats the painful inflamed annular tear that is the source of back or neck pain coming from a herniated disc. Dr. Ara Deukmedjian MD, a board-certified neurosurgeon, discovered through his endoscopic technique that back and neck pain could be cured when the posterior annular tear of the painful herniated disc(s) was debrided with a medical laser. 

No other spine surgeon has this technology which is why patients treated elsewhere continue to have back or neck pain long after their spine surgery is over. Submit your MRI for a free review.

A bulging disc occurs when the disc —a soft tissue sac — between the vertebrae bones of the spine ruptures or shifts outside of the area it should be in. Also called a ruptured or slipped disc, this problem can occur in the neck or thoracic area, but is most common in the lower back, called the lumbar region.

The most common symptom of a bulging disc is back or neck pain. Other symptoms often include numbness and tingling in the parts of arms or legs that lie on the path of the affected nerve roots, weakness in the limb muscles, and pain that originates in the spine and travels into the arms or legs. In extreme cases, patients might experience difficulty controlling bladder actions.

Treatment for bulging discs

Similar to herniated discs, bulging discs can also easily be repaired with laser spine surgery at Deuk Spine Institute using state of the art minimally invasive endoscopic techniques. Submit your MRI for a free review.

Untreated disc inflammation can lead to degenerative disc disease. The pain in your back from degenerative disc disease comes from irritated (inflamed) nerve fibers within the nearby annular tear.

Degenerative Disc Disease involves a variety of structural, biochemical, nutritional and molecular changes that occur in the spinal disc over time or following an initial injury to the intervertebral spinal disc in your spine. Degenerative disc disease is a common cause of back pain and neck pain (discogenic pain), sciatica and radiculopathy. 

Treatment for degenerative disc disease

Deuk Laser Disc Repair is the most effective surgery designed to specifically treat degenerative disc disease as well as herniated or bulging discs. This minimally invasive spine surgery uses a small incision, has over a 95% success rate, provides a fast recovery time, and does not weaken the spine by cutting the bone. Submit your MRI for a free review.

Spinal stenosis occurs when the spinal canal or neural foramen narrows and puts pressure on the important spinal nerves. Spinal stenosis is called thoracic stenosis when it occurs in the middle to upper part of the back, cervical stenosis when it occurs in the neck area, and lumbar stenosis in the lower back area. Narrowing can happen for several reasons, the most common being herniated discs and other causes such as ligaments and cartilage thickening in the canal, or excessive bone growth simply causing the opening to become more slender over time. The risk of this problem increases as a patient passes 50 years of age, due in part to years of stress on the spine and the tendency of tissue and bone to become less sturdy or flexible with decades of repeated use. Disc disease or spinal injury may also be contributing factors in stenosis of the spine, in patients of any age.

Treatment for Spinal Stenosis

Deuk Spine Institute is proud to work with patients in need of many different kinds of spinal stenosis pain relief. Some of our most advanced treatment options include physical therapy plans, injections, and surgery. If you or someone you know is suffering from severe pain associated with cervical, thoracic or lumbar spinal stenosis, Deuk Spine Institute can perform an advanced laser spinal stenosis surgery, which has over a 95% success rate. Many common medical websites, including sites such as WebMD, state that there is no cure for spinal stenosis, but Dr. Deuk, his team, and his results have proven them wrong time and time again.

Deuk Spine Institute sees patients from across the US and throughout the world to have their severe spinal stenosis treated using an advanced laser spinal stenosis surgery techniques. Submit your MRI for a free review.

Deuk Laser Disc Repair uses a precision laser to provide the best laser spine surgery available. Instead of removing an entire disc and placing cages, screws and rods along the spine, our unique laser spine surgery creates an opportunity for the disc to heal naturally on its own.

• To repair your disc, we don’t remove normal bone or joints as is done in traditional spine surgery such as microdiscectomy, laminectomy or fusion. Traditional spine surgery using bone and joint destroying techniques, weakens and destabilizes the spine, which leads to future complications that may require fusion surgery.
• We don’t go through your stomach to reach your back, as is done with total disc replacement surgery for back pain. 
• Deuk Laser Disc Repair doesn’t compromise the spine’s stability, making it the only laser spine surgery of its kind. Instead, we use a patented endoscopic technique that gently and temporarily pushes aside normal tissue to reach the painful herniation.

Once the herniation has been treated, the spinal disc and your body can heal naturally. Inflammation around the spine decreases, and neurological symptoms from nerve root irritation subside. In time, the disc functions as it did before injury and herniation.

Watch this animation that demonstrates our innovative laser spine procedure

Deuk Laser Spine Surgery has had zero complications and a 0% infection rate.

An alternative surgery for spinal issues is a discectomy. There are two variants of discectomy surgery that patients can undergo; an open discectomy or a microdiscectomy. Discectomy is far more invasive than endoscopic laser spine surgery and as such has more complications, postoperative pain, longer recovery and more scar tissue.

The main distinction is that an open discectomy features a larger incision, more normal spinal bone and ligaments are removed, more scar tissue and pain than a microdiscectomy. This procedure gives room for the underlying risk of nerve damage to the neighboring nerves of the vertebrae. The spinal column can also become unstable due to the removed bones, ligaments, and facet joints. In such cases, a spinal fusion is conducted following the discectomy to re-stabilize the spinal column, marginally increasing the patient’s recovery time. 

Another alternative treatment to laser surgery is a laminectomy/laminotomy. Laminectomy and laminotomy surgeries are types of surgical procedures typically used to relieve compression on the spinal cord. These procedures are most commonly used to treat a condition known as spinal stenosis. 

During surgery, the surgeon makes an incision on the patient’s back to access the problematic vertebrae. This procedure, sometimes referred to as “open decompression,” focuses on the lamina and attached ligaments, the part of the vertebrae that forms the vertebral arch in your spine found on the back (posterior) part of the bone to treat spinal stenosis. Once the surgeon has access to the vertebra, they remove the lamina and ligaments from the spine and any bone spurs or fragments that may also be pinching nerves. Unfortunately, laminectomy and laminotomy do not treat back pain or neck pain and frequently make back pain worse.

A laminectomy/laminotomy is usually completed to treat the symptoms of central spinal stenosis, a condition that narrows the spinal canal. The removal of the lamina from the vertebrae ultimately creates more space for the spinal cord and nerves from the narrowing caused by spinal stenosis. With the extra space allotted for the spine and with the removal of the source of pressure, patients will feel a decrease in their leg or arm symptoms but not back pain. The surgery usually takes 2-3 hours. 

During a laminectomy/laminotomy, it is common for the surgeon to perform a spinal fusion because of the instability the laminectomy causes. A bone graft is placed between vertebrae discs to fuse them together, forming a single, elongated bone. Laminotomy is always performed as part of a lumbar microdiscectomy to unpinch nerves to the legs

At Deuk Spine Institute, we have found a way to eliminate the need for traditional Laminectomies through the use of minimally invasive laser surgery which drastically increases success rates, eliminates complications, and decreases the amount of time patients spend in recovery.

There are several non-surgical therapies available for treating spinal conditions. Many patients have often been prescribed a non-surgical treatment initially, depending on the nature of the condition and severity of their symptoms. 

In minor cases, complementary therapy techniques might be sufficient to relieve the patient temporarily. These include: 

• Heat and cold therapy
• Stretches
• Strength-building exercises 
• Acupuncture
• Hot massages
• Weight loss can also ease pressure on the spine and nerve roots.

The physician might also prescribe medication to ease pain associated with spinal injuries, such as:

• Aspirin (Bufferin) 
• Ibuprofen (Advil)
• Naproxen (Aleve) 

However, if symptoms do not clear over time, a patient is often advised to consider laser spine surgery as a permanent yet minimally invasive solution.

“I personally want to thank you for performing laser spine surgery on my back. I have told everyone I see about the amazing surgery that you performed on me. I am still so impressed of the pain relief I continue to feel. It really is so good to have my life back!”

Jane

“I want to thank you for making it possible for me to have laser surgery and how wonderful I feel after! The personal support of you and your entire staff is fabulous, you really have brought me back to life!”

Margaret

“I was able to go home the same day as surgery. It is now 6 weeks post laser discectomy and I feel great. You have given me my life back.”

Frank

“The journey with Dr. Deuk through laser surgery was very easy and I was very impressed by him and his staff. I am 2 weeks post-surgery and I feel wonderful. The neck and hand pain were gone the moment I woke up from surgery!”

Susan

“I just want to thank you for inventing Deuk Laser Disc Repair. You have completely changed my life from the shell of the person I was till now after surgery. I just want to thank you for putting yourself into the patient’s shoes and doing the right thing.”

Bruce