🔗 Share this article

Light-based treatment is definitely experiencing a wave of attention. There are now available light-emitting tools targeting issues like dermatological concerns and fine lines to aching tissues and gum disease, recently introduced is a dental hygiene device outfitted with miniature red light sources, described by its makers as “a breakthrough for domestic dental hygiene.” Worldwide, the market was worth $1bn in 2024 and is projected to grow to $1.8bn by 2035. Options include full-body infrared sauna sessions, that employ light waves rather than traditional heat sources, the infrared radiation heats your body itself. According to its devotees, it’s like bathing in one of those LED-lit beauty masks, stimulating skin elasticity, relaxing muscles, alleviating inflammatory responses and long-term ailments as well as supporting brain health.

Research and Reservations

“It sounds a bit like witchcraft,” notes a Durham University professor, professor in neuroscience at Durham University and a convert to the value of light therapy. Of course, some of light’s effects on our bodies are well established. Sunlight helps us make vitamin D, essential for skeletal strength, immune function, and muscular health. Natural light synchronizes our biological clocks, additionally, stimulating neurotransmitter and hormone production during daytime, and signaling the body to slow down for nighttime. Sunlight-imitating lamps frequently help individuals with seasonal depression to boost low mood in winter. Undoubtedly, light plays a vital role in human health.

Different Light Modalities

While Sad lamps tend to use a mixture of light frequencies from the blue end of the spectrum, most other light therapy devices deploy red or infrared light. In rigorous scientific studies, such as Chazot’s investigations into the effects of infrared on brain cells, identifying the optimal wavelength is crucial. Light constitutes electromagnetic energy, spanning from low-energy radio waves to short-wavelength gamma rays. Phototherapy, or light therapy uses wavelengths around the middle of this spectrum, the highest energy of those being invisible ultraviolet, then visible light (all the colours we see in a rainbow) and finally infrared detectable with special equipment.

Ultraviolet treatment has been employed by skin specialists for decades to manage persistent skin disorders including eczema and psoriasis. It works on the immune system within cells, “and dampens down inflammation,” says a skin specialist. “There’s lots of evidence for phototherapy.” UVA goes deeper into the skin than UVB, while the LEDs in consumer devices (typically emitting red, infrared or blue wavelengths) “generally affect surface layers.”

Risk Assessment and Professional Supervision

The side-effects of UVB exposure, such as burning or tanning, are well known but in medical devices the light is delivered in a “narrow-band” form – indicating limited wavelength spectrum – which minimises the risks. “Treatment is monitored by medical staff, meaning intensity is regulated,” explains the dermatologist. And crucially, the light sources are adjusted by technical experts, “to ensure that the wavelength that’s being delivered is fit for purpose – unlike in tanning salons, where oversight might be limited, and emission spectra aren’t confirmed.”

Home Devices and Scientific Uncertainty

Colored light diodes, he explains, “don’t have strong medical applications, but could assist with specific concerns.” Red light devices, some suggest, help boost blood circulation, oxygen uptake and dermal rejuvenation, and activate collagen formation – a key aspiration in anti-ageing effects. “The evidence is there,” states the dermatologist. “Although it’s not strong.” In any case, given the plethora of available tools, “it’s unclear if device outputs match study parameters. Optimal treatment times are unknown, proper positioning requirements, whether or not that will increase the risk versus the benefit. Numerous concerns persist.”

Treatment Areas and Specialist Views

One of the earliest blue-light products targeted Cutibacterium acnes, bacteria linked to pimples. Scientific backing remains inadequate for regular prescription – even though, says Ho, “it’s commonly used in cosmetic clinics.” Some of his patients use it as part of their routine, he mentions, however for consumer products, “we recommend careful testing and security confirmation. Unless it’s a medical device, oversight remains ambiguous.”

Innovative Investigations and Molecular Effects

Meanwhile, in advanced research areas, Chazot has been experimenting with brain cells, revealing various pathways for light-enhanced cell function. “Pretty much everything I did with the light at that particular wavelength was positive and protective,” he states. The numerous reported benefits have generated doubt regarding phototherapy – that it’s too good to be true. But his research has thoroughly changed his mind in that respect.

The researcher primarily focuses on pharmaceutical solutions for brain disorders, though twenty years earlier, 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. It was an unusual wavelength of about 1070 nanometres, that many assumed was biologically inert.”

Its beneficial characteristic, though, was that it travelled through water easily, allowing substantial bodily penetration.

Mitochondrial Impact and Cognitive Support

Additional research indicated infrared affected cellular mitochondria. These organelles generate cellular energy, creating power for cellular operations. “Every cell in your body has mitochondria, including the brain,” says Chazot, 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, energy organelles generate minimal reactive oxygen compounds. At controlled levels these compounds, says Chazot, “activates protective proteins that safeguard mitochondria, protect cellular integrity and manage defective proteins.”

All of these mechanisms appear promising for treating a brain disease: free radical neutralization, anti-inflammatory, and waste removal – autophagy representing cellular waste disposal.

Current Research Status and Professional Opinions

Upon examining current studies on light therapy for dementia, he reports, several hundred individuals participated in various investigations, comprising his early research projects