🔗 Share this article

Light therapy is certainly having a surge in popularity. There are now available illuminated devices for everything from complexion problems and aging signs along with sore muscles and periodontal issues, the latest being a toothbrush enhanced with small red light diodes, promoted by the creators as “a breakthrough in personal mouth health.” Globally, the market was worth $1bn in 2024 and is projected to grow to $1.8bn by 2035. Options include full-body infrared sauna sessions, which use infrared light to warm the body directly, your body is warmed directly by infrared light. Based on supporter testimonials, the experience resembles using an LED facial mask, enhancing collagen production, soothing sore muscles, alleviating inflammatory responses and chronic health conditions and potentially guarding against cognitive decline.

The Science and Skepticism

“It appears somewhat mystical,” says a neuroscience expert, who has researched light therapy for two decades. Certainly, we know light influences biological functions. Our bodies produce vitamin D through sun exposure, essential for skeletal strength, immune function, and muscular health. Natural light synchronizes our biological clocks, too, stimulating neurotransmitter and hormone production during daytime, and preparing the body for rest as darkness falls. Daylight-simulating devices frequently help individuals with seasonal depression to elevate spirits during colder months. Clearly, light energy is essential for optimal functioning.

Various Phototherapy Approaches

Whereas seasonal affective disorder devices typically employ blue-range light, consumer light therapy products mostly feature red and infrared emissions. In rigorous scientific studies, like examinations of infrared influence on cerebral tissue, finding the right frequency is key. Photons represent electromagnetic waves, spanning from low-energy radio waves to short-wavelength gamma rays. Light-based treatment employs mid-spectrum wavelengths, with ultraviolet representing the higher energy invisible light, then the visible spectrum we perceive as colors and then infrared (which we can see with night-vision goggles).

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,” notes Dr Bernard Ho. “There’s lots of evidence for phototherapy.” UVA goes deeper into the skin than UVB, while the LEDs in consumer devices (usually producing colored light emissions) “tend to be a bit more superficial.”

Risk Assessment and Professional Supervision

The side-effects of UVB exposure, like erythema or pigmentation, are well known but in medical devices the light is delivered in a “narrow-band” form – indicating limited wavelength spectrum – which minimises the risks. “Therapy is overseen by qualified practitioners, thus exposure is controlled,” notes the specialist. Most importantly, the light sources are adjusted by technical experts, “to confirm suitable light frequency output – different from beauty salons, where regulations may be lax, and wavelength accuracy isn’t verified.”

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 LEDs, it is proposed, enhance blood flow, oxygen utilization and skin cell regeneration, and stimulate collagen production – a primary objective in youth preservation. “Research exists,” states the dermatologist. “However, it’s limited.” Nevertheless, with numerous products on the market, “it’s unclear if device outputs match study parameters. We don’t know the duration, ideal distance from skin surface, whether or not that will increase the risk versus the benefit. Numerous concerns persist.”

Specific Applications and Professional Perspectives

One of the earliest blue-light products targeted Cutibacterium acnes, a microbe associated with acne. Research support isn’t sufficient for standard medical recommendation – even though, says Ho, “it’s commonly used in cosmetic clinics.” Individuals include it in their skincare practices, he observes, but if they’re buying a device for home use, “we just tell them to try it carefully and to make sure it has been assessed for safety. If it’s not medically certified, oversight remains ambiguous.”

Innovative Investigations and Molecular Effects

Meanwhile, in a far-flung field of pioneering medical science, researchers have been testing neural cells, revealing various pathways for light-enhanced cell function. “Nearly every test with precise light frequencies demonstrated advantageous outcomes,” he reports. It is partly these many and varied positive effects on cellular health that have driven skepticism about light therapy – that results appear unrealistic. However, scientific investigation has altered his perspective.

The scientist mainly develops medications for neurological conditions, however two decades past, a doctor developing photonic antiviral treatment consulted his scientific background. “He designed tools for biological testing,” he says. “I remained doubtful. This particular frequency was around 1070 nanometers, that nobody believed did anything biological.”

The advantage it possessed, however, 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 produce ATP for cell function, producing fuel for biological processes. “Mitochondria exist throughout the body, particularly in neural cells,” explains the neuroscientist, 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.”

With 1070 treatment, energy organelles generate minimal reactive oxygen compounds. In limited quantities these molecules, explains the expert, “triggers guardian proteins that maintain organelle health, protect cellular integrity and manage defective proteins.”

These processes show potential for neurological conditions: antioxidant, inflammation reduction, and cellular cleanup – 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 reports, about 400 people were taking part in four studies, including his own initial clinical trials in the US