🔗 Share this article

Light-based treatment is clearly enjoying a surge in popularity. There are now available illuminated devices targeting issues like skin conditions and wrinkles as well as sore muscles and gum disease, the latest being an oral care tool equipped with small red light diodes, promoted by the creators as “a significant discovery for domestic dental hygiene.” Globally, the market was worth $1bn in 2024 and is projected to grow to $1.8bn by 2035. There are even infrared saunas available, which use infrared light to warm the body directly, the thermal energy targets your tissues immediately. Based on supporter testimonials, it’s like bathing in one of those LED-lit beauty masks, stimulating skin elasticity, soothing sore muscles, alleviating inflammatory responses and chronic health conditions and potentially guarding against cognitive decline.

The Science and Skepticism

“It sounds a bit like witchcraft,” observes a Durham University professor, who has researched light therapy for two decades. Of course, we know light influences biological functions. Our bodies produce vitamin D through sun exposure, essential for skeletal strength, immune function, and muscular health. Light exposure controls our sleep-wake cycles, additionally, triggering the release of neurochemicals and hormones while we are awake, and preparing the body for rest as darkness falls. Daylight-simulating devices frequently help individuals with seasonal depression to boost low mood in winter. Clearly, light energy is essential for optimal functioning.

Various Phototherapy Approaches

Although mood lamps generally utilize blue-spectrum frequencies, consumer light therapy products mostly feature red and infrared emissions. During advanced medical investigations, including research on infrared’s impact on neural cells, determining the precise frequency is essential. Photons represent electromagnetic waves, extending from long-wavelength radiation to high-energy gamma radiation. Light-based treatment employs mid-spectrum wavelengths, including invisible ultraviolet radiation, then the visible spectrum we perceive as colors and infrared light visible through night vision technology.

UV light has been used by medical dermatologists for many years to treat chronic skin conditions such as eczema, psoriasis and vitiligo. It works on the immune system within cells, “and dampens down inflammation,” notes a dermatology expert. “Substantial research supports light therapy.” UVA goes deeper into the skin than UVB, whereas the LEDs we see on consumer light-therapy devices (typically emitting red, infrared or blue wavelengths) “generally affect surface layers.”

Risk Assessment and Professional Supervision

UVB radiation effects, including sunburn or skin darkening, are recognized but medical equipment uses controlled narrow-band delivery – signifying focused frequency bands – that reduces potential hazards. “Therapy is overseen by qualified practitioners, thus exposure is controlled,” says Ho. Most importantly, the light sources are adjusted by technical experts, “to confirm suitable light frequency output – unlike in tanning salons, where regulations may be lax, and wavelength accuracy isn’t verified.”

Commercial Products and Research Limitations

Colored light diodes, he notes, “aren’t really used in the medical sense, but they may help with certain conditions.” Red light devices, some suggest, improve circulatory function, oxygen utilization and skin cell regeneration, and activate collagen formation – an important goal for anti-aging. “Studies are available,” states the dermatologist. “However, it’s limited.” Regardless, amid the sea of devices now available, “we’re uncertain whether commercial devices replicate research conditions. Appropriate exposure periods aren’t established, ideal distance from skin surface, whether or not that will increase the risk versus the benefit. Many uncertainties remain.”

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 frequently employed in beauty centers.” Some of his patients use it as part of their routine, he mentions, though when purchasing home devices, “we recommend careful testing and security confirmation. Without proper medical classification, the regulation is a bit grey.”

Cutting-Edge Studies and Biological Processes

Meanwhile, in advanced research areas, researchers have been testing neural cells, revealing various pathways for light-enhanced cell function. “Virtually all experiments with specific wavelengths showed beneficial and safeguarding effects,” he states. The numerous reported benefits have generated doubt regarding phototherapy – that claims seem exaggerated. However, scientific investigation has altered his perspective.

The researcher primarily focuses on pharmaceutical solutions for brain disorders, however two decades past, a GP who was developing an antiviral light treatment for cold sores sought his expertise as a biologist. “He developed equipment for cellular and insect experiments,” he explains. “I was pretty sceptical. It was an unusual wavelength of about 1070 nanometres, which most thought had no biological effect.”

Its beneficial characteristic, nevertheless, was its efficient water penetration, meaning it could penetrate the body more deeply.

Mitochondrial Effects and Brain Health

Additional research indicated infrared affected cellular mitochondria. Mitochondria produce ATP for cell function, producing fuel for biological processes. “Mitochondria exist throughout the body, including the brain,” notes the researcher, who, as a neuroscientist, decided to focus the research on brain cells. “Research confirms improved brain blood flow with phototherapy, which is always very good.”

With 1070 treatment, mitochondria also produce a small amount of a molecule known as reactive oxygen species. In limited quantities these molecules, says Chazot, “triggers guardian proteins that maintain organelle health, protect cellular integrity and manage defective proteins.”

These processes show potential for neurological conditions: antioxidant, swelling control, and waste removal – autophagy representing cellular waste disposal.

Current Research Status and Professional Opinions

The last time Chazot checked the literature on using the 1070 wavelength on human dementia patients, he states, several hundred individuals participated in various investigations, comprising his early research projects