🔗 Share this article

Light therapy is clearly enjoying a surge in popularity. You can now buy light-emitting tools targeting issues like dermatological concerns and fine lines along with sore muscles and gum disease, recently introduced is a dental hygiene device equipped with miniature red light sources, promoted by the creators as “a breakthrough for domestic dental hygiene.” Internationally, the sector valued at $1bn last year is expected to increase to $1.8bn within the next decade. Options include full-body infrared sauna sessions, that employ light waves rather than traditional heat sources, the thermal energy targets your tissues immediately. According to its devotees, it feels similar to a full-body light therapy session, boosting skin collagen, soothing sore muscles, reducing swelling and long-term ailments and potentially guarding against cognitive decline.

Research and Reservations

“It appears somewhat mystical,” observes a Durham University professor, who has researched light therapy for two decades. Naturally, some of light’s effects on our bodies are well established. Our bodies produce vitamin D through sun exposure, essential for skeletal strength, immune function, and muscular health. Sunlight regulates our circadian rhythms, as well, triggering the release of neurochemicals and hormones while we are awake, and winding down bodily functions for sleep as it fades into night. Sunlight-imitating lamps frequently help individuals with seasonal depression to boost low mood in winter. Clearly, light energy is essential for optimal functioning.

Different Light Modalities

Although mood lamps generally utilize blue-spectrum frequencies, the majority of phototherapy tools use red or near-infrared wavelengths. In serious clinical research, such as Chazot’s investigations into the effects of infrared on brain cells, finding the right frequency is key. Photons represent electromagnetic waves, spanning from low-energy radio waves to the highest-energy (gamma waves). Therapeutic light application uses wavelengths around the middle of this spectrum, with ultraviolet representing the higher energy invisible light, then the visible spectrum we perceive as colors and infrared light visible through night vision technology.

Ultraviolet treatment has been employed by skin specialists for decades to treat chronic skin conditions such as eczema, psoriasis and vitiligo. It modulates intracellular immune mechanisms, “and dampens down inflammation,” explains Dr Bernard Ho. “There’s lots of evidence for phototherapy.” UVA penetrates skin more deeply than UVB, in contrast to LEDs in commercial products (usually producing colored light emissions) “tend to be a bit more superficial.”

Safety Protocols and Medical Guidance

Potential UVB consequences, like erythema or pigmentation, are recognized but medical equipment uses controlled narrow-band delivery – meaning smaller wavelengths – which decreases danger. “It’s supervised by a healthcare professional, meaning intensity is regulated,” notes the specialist. And crucially, the light sources are adjusted by technical experts, “to guarantee appropriate wavelength emission – as opposed to commercial tanning facilities, where oversight might be limited, and we don’t really know what wavelengths are being used.”

Consumer Devices and Evidence Gaps

Red and blue LEDs, he says, “aren’t really used in the medical sense, though they might benefit some issues.” Red wavelength therapy, proponents claim, enhance blood flow, oxygen utilization and dermal rejuvenation, and promote collagen synthesis – an important goal for anti-aging. “The evidence is there,” says Ho. “Although it’s not strong.” Nevertheless, given the plethora of available tools, “we don’t know whether or not the lights emitted are reflective of the research that has been done. Appropriate exposure periods aren’t established, how close the lights should be to the skin, the risk-benefit ratio. There are lots of questions.”

Specific Applications and Professional Perspectives

One of the earliest blue-light products targeted Cutibacterium acnes, microorganisms connected to breakouts. Research support isn’t sufficient for standard medical recommendation – even though, notes the dermatologist, “it’s often seen in medical spas or aesthetics practices.” Certain patients incorporate it into their regimen, he says, but if they’re buying a device for home use, “we advise cautious experimentation and safety verification. Unless it’s a medical device, oversight remains ambiguous.”

Innovative Investigations and Molecular Effects

At the same time, in advanced research areas, scientists have been studying cerebral tissue, revealing various pathways for light-enhanced cell function. “Nearly every test with precise light frequencies demonstrated advantageous outcomes,” he says. The numerous reported benefits have generated doubt regarding phototherapy – that it’s too good to be true. However, scientific investigation has altered his perspective.

The researcher primarily focuses on pharmaceutical solutions for brain disorders, but over 20 years ago, a doctor developing photonic antiviral treatment consulted his scientific background. “He designed tools for biological testing,” he explains. “I was pretty sceptical. It was an unusual wavelength of about 1070 nanometres, that many assumed was biologically inert.”

Its beneficial characteristic, though, was its ability to transmit through aqueous environments, enabling deeper tissue penetration.

Mitochondrial Impact and Cognitive Support

Growing data suggested infrared influenced energy-producing organelles. Mitochondria are the powerhouses of cells, creating power for cellular operations. “Every cell in your body has mitochondria, even within brain tissue,” explains the neuroscientist, who concentrated on cerebral applications. “Research confirms improved brain blood flow with phototherapy, which is always very good.”

With specific frequency application, mitochondria also produce a small amount of a molecule known as reactive oxygen species. In low doses this substance, explains the expert, “triggers guardian proteins that maintain organelle health, protect cellular integrity and manage defective proteins.”

These processes show potential for neurological conditions: free radical neutralization, anti-inflammatory, and pro-autophagy – autophagy being the process the cell uses to clear unwanted damaging proteins.

Present Investigation Status and Expert Assessments

The last time Chazot checked the literature on using the 1070 wavelength on human dementia patients, he reports, several hundred individuals participated in various investigations, incorporating his preliminary American studies