🔗 Share this article

Light-based treatment is certainly having a wave of attention. Consumers can purchase light-emitting tools for everything from dermatological concerns and fine lines to sore muscles and periodontal issues, the latest being an oral care tool outfitted with miniature red light sources, described by its makers as “a major advance in personal mouth health.” Worldwide, the industry reached $1 billion in 2024 and is forecast to expand to $1.8 billion 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, it feels similar to a full-body light therapy session, boosting skin collagen, soothing sore muscles, reducing swelling and long-term ailments and potentially guarding against cognitive decline.

The Science and Skepticism

“It appears somewhat mystical,” says Paul Chazot, who has researched light therapy for two decades. Naturally, some of light’s effects on our bodies are well established. Sunlight enables vitamin D production, crucial for strong bones, immune defense, and tissue repair. Light exposure controls our sleep-wake cycles, additionally, stimulating neurotransmitter and hormone production during daytime, and winding down bodily functions for sleep as it fades into night. Artificial sun lamps are standard treatment for winter mood disorders to elevate spirits during colder months. So there’s no doubt we need light energy to function well.

Various Phototherapy Approaches

Although mood lamps generally utilize blue-spectrum frequencies, consumer light therapy products mostly feature red and infrared emissions. In serious clinical research, like examinations of infrared influence on cerebral tissue, finding the right frequency is key. Light is a form of electromagnetic radiation, extending from long-wavelength radiation to high-energy gamma radiation. Therapeutic light application uses wavelengths around the middle of this spectrum, including invisible ultraviolet radiation, then the visible spectrum we perceive as colors and finally infrared detectable with special equipment.

UV light has been used by medical dermatologists for many years to manage persistent skin disorders including eczema and psoriasis. It works on the immune system within cells, “and reduces inflammatory processes,” says Dr Bernard Ho. “Considerable data validates phototherapy.” UVA penetrates skin more deeply than UVB, in contrast to LEDs in commercial products (usually producing colored light emissions) “typically have shallower penetration.”

Safety Protocols and Medical Guidance

Potential UVB consequences, like erythema or pigmentation, are understood but clinical devices employ restricted wavelength ranges – signifying focused frequency bands – which minimises the risks. “Therapy is overseen by qualified practitioners, meaning intensity is regulated,” says Ho. And crucially, the light sources are adjusted by technical experts, “to guarantee appropriate wavelength emission – unlike in tanning salons, where it’s a bit unregulated, and we don’t really know what wavelengths are being used.”

Consumer Devices and Evidence Gaps

Red and blue light sources, he explains, “aren’t typically employed clinically, but they may help with certain conditions.” Red light devices, some suggest, improve circulatory function, oxygen uptake and cell renewal in the skin, and activate collagen formation – a primary objective in youth preservation. “Studies are available,” states the dermatologist. “Although it’s not strong.” Nevertheless, 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.”

Specific Applications and Professional Perspectives

Early blue-light applications focused on skin microbes, a microbe associated with acne. Scientific backing remains inadequate for regular prescription – despite the fact that, says Ho, “it’s often seen in medical spas or aesthetics practices.” Some of his patients use it as part of their routine, he observes, but if they’re buying a device for home use, “we recommend careful testing and security confirmation. Without proper medical classification, standards are somewhat unclear.”

Innovative Investigations and Molecular Effects

Simultaneously, in advanced research areas, researchers have been testing neural cells, discovering multiple mechanisms for infrared’s cellular benefits. “Nearly every test with precise light frequencies demonstrated advantageous outcomes,” he states. 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, though twenty years earlier, a doctor developing photonic antiviral treatment consulted his scientific background. “He created some devices so that we could work with them with cells and with fruit flies,” he explains. “I was pretty sceptical. This particular frequency was around 1070 nanometers, that nobody believed did anything biological.”

The advantage it possessed, though, was its efficient water penetration, meaning it could penetrate the body more deeply.

Mitochondrial Impact and Cognitive Support

More evidence was emerging at the time that infrared light targeted the mitochondria in cells. These organelles generate cellular energy, creating power for cellular operations. “Every cell in your body has mitochondria, particularly in neural cells,” 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 consistently beneficial.”

With specific frequency application, energy organelles generate minimal reactive oxygen compounds. At controlled levels these compounds, notes the scientist, “stimulates so-called chaperone proteins which look after your mitochondria, protect cellular integrity and manage defective proteins.”

Such mechanisms indicate hope for cognitive disorders: oxidative protection, anti-inflammatory, and pro-autophagy – self-digestion mechanisms eliminating harmful elements.

Current Research Status and Professional Opinions

The last time Chazot checked the literature on using the 1070 wavelength on human dementia patients, he reports, several hundred individuals participated in various investigations, including his own initial clinical trials in the US