🔗 Share this article

Light therapy is certainly having a surge in popularity. Consumers can purchase illuminated devices targeting issues like dermatological concerns and fine lines to aching tissues and gum disease, recently introduced is an oral care tool equipped with miniature red light sources, promoted by the creators as “a breakthrough in personal mouth health.” Worldwide, the market was worth $1bn in 2024 and is projected to grow to $1.8bn by 2035. There are even infrared saunas available, where instead of hot coals (real or electric) heating the air, your body is warmed directly by infrared light. According to its devotees, it’s like bathing in one of those LED-lit beauty masks, enhancing collagen production, soothing sore muscles, relieving inflammation and long-term ailments as well as supporting brain health.

Research and Reservations

“It sounds a bit like witchcraft,” notes a neuroscience expert, a scientist who has studied phototherapy extensively. Naturally, some of light’s effects on our bodies are well established. Sunlight enables vitamin D production, essential for skeletal strength, immune function, and muscular health. Natural light synchronizes our biological clocks, too, triggering the release of neurochemicals and hormones while we are awake, and winding down bodily functions for sleep as it fades into night. Daylight-simulating devices are standard treatment for winter mood disorders to combat seasonal emotional slumps. Undoubtedly, light plays a vital role in human health.

Various Phototherapy Approaches

Whereas seasonal affective disorder devices typically employ blue-range light, the majority of phototherapy tools use red or near-infrared wavelengths. In rigorous scientific studies, like examinations of infrared influence on cerebral tissue, identifying the optimal wavelength is crucial. Photons represent electromagnetic waves, spanning from low-energy radio waves to high-energy gamma radiation. Therapeutic light application employs mid-spectrum wavelengths, the highest energy of those being invisible ultraviolet, followed by visible light encompassing rainbow colors and infrared light visible through night vision technology.

UV light has been used by medical dermatologists for many years for addressing long-term dermatological issues like vitiligo. It modulates intracellular immune mechanisms, “and suppresses swelling,” 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 (which generally deliver red, infrared or blue light) “tend to be a bit more superficial.”

Safety Considerations and Medical Oversight

UVB radiation effects, such as burning or tanning, are understood but clinical devices employ restricted wavelength ranges – signifying focused frequency bands – which decreases danger. “It’s supervised by a healthcare professional, so the dosage is monitored,” says Ho. Most importantly, the devices are tuned by qualified personnel, “to guarantee appropriate wavelength emission – as opposed to commercial tanning facilities, where it’s a bit unregulated, and emission spectra aren’t confirmed.”

Consumer Devices and Evidence Gaps

Colored light diodes, he notes, “aren’t really used in the medical sense, but they may help with certain conditions.” Red wavelength therapy, proponents claim, help boost blood circulation, oxygen uptake and skin cell regeneration, and activate collagen formation – a primary objective in youth preservation. “Research exists,” says Ho. “However, it’s limited.” Nevertheless, amid the sea of devices now available, “we don’t know whether or not the lights emitted are reflective of the research that has been done. Optimal treatment times are unknown, how close the lights should be to the skin, the risk-benefit ratio. Many uncertainties remain.”

Targeted Uses and Expert Opinions

One of the earliest blue-light products targeted Cutibacterium acnes, bacteria linked to pimples. Scientific backing remains inadequate for regular prescription – 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, but if they’re buying a device for home use, “we recommend careful testing and security confirmation. Without proper medical classification, the regulation is a bit grey.”

Cutting-Edge Studies and Biological Processes

Simultaneously, in advanced research areas, Chazot has been experimenting with brain cells, identifying a number of ways in which infrared can boost cellular health. “Virtually all experiments with specific wavelengths showed beneficial and safeguarding effects,” he reports. Multiple claimed advantages have created skepticism toward light treatment – that claims seem exaggerated. However, scientific investigation has altered his perspective.

The researcher primarily focuses on pharmaceutical solutions for brain disorders, but over 20 years ago, a physician creating light-based cold sore therapy requested his biological knowledge. “He created some devices so that we could work with them with cells and with fruit flies,” he says. “I remained doubtful. It was an unusual wavelength of about 1070 nanometres, that nobody believed did anything biological.”

The advantage it possessed, nevertheless, was its ability to transmit through aqueous environments, allowing substantial bodily penetration.

Mitochondrial Effects and Brain Health

Growing data suggested infrared influenced energy-producing organelles. Mitochondria produce ATP for cell function, producing fuel for biological processes. “All human cells contain mitochondria, including the brain,” says Chazot, who, as a neuroscientist, decided to focus the research on brain cells. “It has been shown that in humans this light therapy increases blood flow into the brain, which is generally advantageous.”

Using 1070nm wavelength, cellular power plants create limited oxidative molecules. In limited quantities these molecules, notes the scientist, “stimulates so-called chaperone proteins which look after your mitochondria, look after your cells and also deal with the unwanted proteins.”

All of these mechanisms appear promising for treating a brain disease: oxidative protection, anti-inflammatory, and waste removal – self-digestion mechanisms eliminating harmful elements.

Current Research Status and Professional Opinions

When recently reviewing 1070nm research for cognitive decline, he reports, about 400 people were taking part in four studies, incorporating his preliminary American studies