🔗 Share this article

Light therapy is certainly having a moment. You can now buy glowing gadgets targeting issues like complexion problems and aging signs as well as aching tissues and periodontal issues, the latest being an oral care tool enhanced with miniature red light sources, marketed by the company as “a breakthrough in personal mouth health.” Globally, the industry reached $1 billion in 2024 and is forecast to expand to $1.8 billion by 2035. There are even infrared saunas available, where instead of hot coals (real or electric) heating the air, the thermal energy targets your tissues immediately. As claimed by enthusiasts, it’s like bathing in one of those LED-lit beauty masks, stimulating skin elasticity, soothing sore muscles, reducing swelling and long-term ailments as well as supporting brain health.

Research and Reservations

“It sounds a bit like witchcraft,” notes Paul Chazot, a scientist who has studied phototherapy extensively. Certainly, we know light influences biological functions. Our bodies produce vitamin D through sun exposure, crucial for strong bones, immune defense, and tissue repair. Natural light synchronizes our biological clocks, as well, activating brain chemicals and hormonal responses in daylight, and winding down bodily functions for sleep as it fades into night. Sunlight-imitating lamps are a common remedy for people with seasonal affective disorder (Sad) to elevate spirits during colder months. Clearly, light energy is essential for optimal functioning.

Types of Light Therapy

Although mood lamps generally utilize blue-spectrum frequencies, consumer light therapy products mostly feature red and infrared emissions. In rigorous scientific studies, like examinations of infrared influence on cerebral tissue, determining the precise frequency is essential. Photons represent electromagnetic waves, extending from long-wavelength radiation to the highest-energy (gamma waves). Therapeutic light application utilizes intermediate light frequencies, with ultraviolet representing the higher energy invisible light, followed by visible light encompassing rainbow colors and finally infrared detectable with special equipment.

Ultraviolet treatment has been employed by skin specialists for decades for addressing long-term dermatological issues like vitiligo. It works on the immune system within cells, “and dampens down inflammation,” explains a dermatology expert. “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 Considerations and Medical Oversight

The side-effects of UVB exposure, like erythema or pigmentation, are recognized but medical equipment uses controlled narrow-band delivery – indicating limited wavelength spectrum – that reduces potential hazards. “It’s supervised by a healthcare professional, thus exposure is controlled,” explains the dermatologist. Most importantly, the light sources are adjusted by technical experts, “to ensure that the wavelength that’s being delivered is fit for purpose – as opposed to commercial tanning facilities, where it’s a bit unregulated, and we don’t really know what wavelengths are being used.”

Commercial Products and Research Limitations

Colored light diodes, he says, “aren’t really used in the medical sense, though they might benefit some issues.” Red light devices, some suggest, improve circulatory function, oxygen uptake and skin cell regeneration, and activate collagen formation – a key aspiration in anti-ageing effects. “Studies are available,” states the dermatologist. “Although it’s not strong.” 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. Appropriate exposure periods aren’t established, ideal distance from skin surface, if benefits outweigh potential risks. There are lots of questions.”

Treatment Areas and Specialist Views

One of the earliest blue-light products targeted Cutibacterium acnes, a microbe associated with acne. Research support isn’t sufficient for standard medical recommendation – despite the fact that, explains the specialist, “it’s commonly used in cosmetic clinics.” 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.”

Advanced Research and Cellular Mechanisms

Simultaneously, in a far-flung field of pioneering medical science, scientists have been studying cerebral tissue, identifying a number of ways in which infrared can boost cellular health. “Nearly every test with precise light frequencies demonstrated advantageous outcomes,” he reports. The numerous reported benefits have generated doubt regarding phototherapy – that claims seem exaggerated. Yet, experimental evidence has transformed his viewpoint.

The scientist mainly develops medications for neurological conditions, though twenty years earlier, a doctor developing photonic antiviral treatment consulted his scientific background. “He developed equipment for cellular and insect experiments,” he explains. “I was pretty sceptical. It was an unusual wavelength of about 1070 nanometres, that nobody believed did anything biological.”

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

Mitochondrial Effects and Brain Health

More evidence was emerging at the time that infrared light targeted the mitochondria in cells. Mitochondria are the powerhouses of cells, creating power for cellular operations. “Every cell in your body has mitochondria, even within brain tissue,” says Chazot, who concentrated on cerebral applications. “It has been shown that in humans this light therapy increases blood flow into the brain, which is consistently beneficial.”

With specific frequency application, energy organelles generate minimal reactive oxygen compounds. In limited quantities these molecules, says Chazot, “stimulates so-called chaperone proteins which look after your mitochondria, look after your cells and also deal with the unwanted proteins.”

These processes show potential for neurological conditions: oxidative protection, inflammation reduction, and pro-autophagy – autophagy being the process the cell uses to clear unwanted damaging proteins.

Ongoing Study Progress and Specialist Evaluations

Upon examining current studies on light therapy for dementia, he reports, about 400 people were taking part in four studies, comprising his early research projects