🔗 Share this article

Phototherapy is clearly enjoying a wave of attention. Consumers can purchase light-emitting tools for everything from complexion problems and aging signs along with muscle pain and oral inflammation, the newest innovation is an oral care tool equipped with small red light diodes, promoted by the creators as “a significant discovery 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. According to its devotees, the experience resembles using an LED facial mask, enhancing collagen production, relaxing muscles, reducing swelling and long-term ailments as well as supporting brain health.

Understanding the Evidence

“It appears somewhat mystical,” says a neuroscience expert, who has researched light therapy for two decades. Of course, 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, too, activating brain chemicals and hormonal responses in daylight, and preparing the body for rest as darkness falls. Daylight-simulating devices are a common remedy for people with seasonal affective disorder (Sad) to combat seasonal emotional slumps. So there’s no doubt we need light energy to function well.

Various Phototherapy Approaches

While Sad lamps tend to use a mixture of light frequencies from the blue end of the spectrum, 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. Light is a form of electromagnetic radiation, which runs the spectrum from the lowest-energy, longest wavelengths (radio waves) to short-wavelength gamma rays. Phototherapy, or light therapy utilizes intermediate light frequencies, with ultraviolet representing the higher energy invisible light, then the visible spectrum we perceive as 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 modulates intracellular immune mechanisms, “and reduces inflammatory processes,” explains Dr Bernard Ho. “Considerable data validates phototherapy.” UVA penetrates skin more deeply than UVB, in contrast to LEDs in commercial products (typically emitting red, infrared or blue wavelengths) “typically have shallower penetration.”

Risk Assessment and Professional Supervision

The side-effects of UVB exposure, like erythema or pigmentation, are recognized but medical equipment uses controlled narrow-band delivery – meaning smaller wavelengths – which decreases danger. “Therapy is overseen by qualified practitioners, meaning intensity is regulated,” says Ho. Essentially, the light sources are adjusted by technical experts, “to ensure that the wavelength that’s being delivered is fit for purpose – different from beauty salons, where regulations may be lax, and wavelength accuracy isn’t verified.”

Home Devices and Scientific Uncertainty

Red and blue light sources, he says, “aren’t really used in the medical sense, though they might benefit some issues.” Red wavelength therapy, proponents claim, help boost blood circulation, oxygen uptake and dermal rejuvenation, and promote collagen synthesis – a primary objective in youth preservation. “Studies are available,” says Ho. “Although it’s not strong.” Nevertheless, with numerous products on the market, “we’re uncertain whether commercial devices replicate research conditions. Optimal treatment times are unknown, proper positioning requirements, if benefits outweigh potential risks. There are lots of questions.”

Targeted Uses and Expert Opinions

Early blue-light applications focused on skin microbes, microorganisms connected to breakouts. Research support isn’t sufficient for standard medical recommendation – despite the fact that, notes the dermatologist, “it’s commonly used in cosmetic clinics.” Some of his patients use it as part of their routine, he mentions, 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. Without proper medical classification, oversight remains ambiguous.”

Advanced Research and Cellular Mechanisms

Meanwhile, in a far-flung field of pioneering medical science, researchers have been testing neural cells, identifying a number of ways in which infrared can boost cellular health. “Nearly every test with precise light frequencies demonstrated advantageous outcomes,” he states. The numerous reported benefits have generated doubt regarding phototherapy – that results appear unrealistic. 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 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 says. “I remained doubtful. This particular frequency was around 1070 nanometers, that many assumed was biologically inert.”

The advantage it possessed, nevertheless, was its efficient water penetration, allowing substantial bodily penetration.

Mitochondrial Impact and Cognitive Support

Additional research indicated infrared affected cellular mitochondria. Mitochondria produce ATP for cell function, generating energy for them to function. “All human cells contain mitochondria, including the brain,” explains the neuroscientist, who concentrated on cerebral applications. “Research confirms improved brain blood flow with phototherapy, which is consistently beneficial.”

With 1070 treatment, mitochondria also produce a small amount of a molecule known as reactive oxygen species. At controlled levels these compounds, notes the scientist, “activates protective proteins that safeguard mitochondria, preserve cell function and eliminate damaged proteins.”

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

Present Investigation Status and Expert Assessments

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