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Light therapy is certainly having a moment. You can now buy light-emitting tools targeting issues like skin conditions and wrinkles to sore muscles and oral inflammation, the newest innovation is a dental hygiene device equipped with tiny red LEDs, described by its makers as “a significant discovery for domestic dental hygiene.” 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, which use infrared light to warm the body directly, your body is warmed directly by infrared light. According to its devotees, the experience resembles using an LED facial mask, stimulating skin elasticity, soothing sore muscles, relieving inflammation and long-term ailments as well as supporting brain health.

The Science and Skepticism

“It appears somewhat mystical,” says a neuroscience expert, a scientist who has studied phototherapy extensively. Certainly, we know light influences biological functions. Sunlight helps us make vitamin D, crucial for strong bones, immune defense, and tissue repair. 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. Daylight-simulating devices are standard treatment for winter mood disorders to elevate spirits during colder months. Undoubtedly, light plays a vital role in human health.

Types of Light Therapy

Whereas seasonal affective disorder devices typically employ blue-range light, most other light therapy devices deploy red or infrared light. During advanced medical investigations, like examinations of infrared influence on cerebral tissue, finding the right frequency is key. Light constitutes electromagnetic energy, which runs the spectrum from the lowest-energy, longest wavelengths (radio waves) to short-wavelength gamma rays. 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 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 modulates intracellular immune mechanisms, “and dampens down inflammation,” explains Dr Bernard Ho. “Substantial research supports light therapy.” UVA reaches deeper skin layers compared to UVB, in contrast to LEDs in commercial products (which generally deliver red, infrared or blue light) “typically have shallower penetration.”

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 – meaning smaller wavelengths – which decreases danger. “It’s supervised by a healthcare professional, so the dosage is monitored,” notes the specialist. Essentially, the lightbulbs are calibrated by medical technicians, “to guarantee appropriate wavelength emission – 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

Red and blue LEDs, he notes, “don’t have strong medical applications, but they may help with certain conditions.” Red LEDs, it is proposed, enhance blood flow, oxygen utilization and dermal rejuvenation, and activate collagen formation – a key aspiration in anti-ageing effects. “Studies are available,” comments the expert. “However, it’s limited.” Regardless, 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. We don’t know the duration, ideal distance from skin surface, whether or not that will increase the risk versus the benefit. There are lots of questions.”

Treatment Areas and Specialist Views

Early blue-light applications focused on skin microbes, bacteria linked to pimples. Scientific backing remains inadequate for regular prescription – despite the fact that, explains the specialist, “it’s often seen in medical spas or aesthetics practices.” Individuals include it in their skincare practices, he says, though when purchasing home devices, “we advise cautious experimentation and safety verification. Without proper medical classification, the regulation is a bit grey.”

Cutting-Edge Studies and Biological Processes

Meanwhile, in innovative scientific domains, scientists have been studying cerebral tissue, discovering multiple mechanisms for infrared’s cellular benefits. “Nearly every test with precise light frequencies demonstrated advantageous outcomes,” he says. It is partly these many and varied positive effects on cellular health that have driven skepticism about light therapy – 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 physician creating light-based cold sore therapy requested his biological knowledge. “He developed equipment for cellular and insect experiments,” he explains. “I was quite suspicious. This particular frequency was around 1070 nanometers, which most thought had no biological effect.”

The advantage it possessed, nevertheless, was its efficient water penetration, enabling deeper tissue penetration.

Cellular Energy and Neurological Benefits

Growing data suggested infrared influenced energy-producing organelles. These organelles generate cellular energy, producing fuel for biological processes. “Mitochondria exist throughout the body, including the brain,” notes the researcher, who concentrated on cerebral applications. “Studies demonstrate enhanced cerebral circulation with light treatment, which is consistently beneficial.”

With 1070 treatment, mitochondria also produce a small amount of a molecule known as reactive oxygen species. In low doses this substance, says Chazot, “triggers guardian proteins that maintain organelle health, look after your cells and also deal with the unwanted proteins.”

All of these mechanisms appear promising for treating a brain disease: free radical neutralization, swelling control, and pro-autophagy – autophagy being the process the cell uses to clear unwanted damaging proteins.

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