🔗 Share this article

Phototherapy is definitely experiencing a wave of attention. There are now available illuminated devices for everything from complexion problems and aging signs to muscle pain and gum disease, the newest innovation is a toothbrush outfitted with miniature red light sources, promoted by the creators as “a significant discovery in at-home oral care.” Worldwide, the market was worth $1bn in 2024 and is projected to grow to $1.8bn by 2035. You can even go and sit in an infrared sauna, where instead of hot coals (real or electric) heating the air, the thermal energy targets your tissues immediately. Based on supporter testimonials, it’s like bathing in one of those LED-lit beauty masks, stimulating skin elasticity, easing muscle tension, relieving inflammation and chronic health conditions as well as supporting brain health.

Research and Reservations

“It feels almost magical,” notes Paul Chazot, professor in neuroscience at Durham University and a convert to the value of light therapy. 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, additionally, 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 boost low mood in winter. 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. In serious clinical research, including research on infrared’s impact on neural cells, finding the right frequency is key. Light is a form of electromagnetic radiation, extending from long-wavelength radiation to short-wavelength gamma rays. Therapeutic light application uses wavelengths around the middle of this spectrum, the highest energy of those being invisible ultraviolet, followed by visible light encompassing rainbow colors and finally infrared detectable with special equipment.

UV light has been used by medical dermatologists for many years for addressing long-term dermatological issues like vitiligo. It modulates intracellular immune mechanisms, “and suppresses swelling,” notes a dermatology expert. “Considerable data validates phototherapy.” UVA reaches deeper skin layers compared to UVB, while the LEDs in consumer devices (which generally deliver red, infrared or blue light) “tend to be a bit more superficial.”

Risk Assessment and Professional Supervision

The side-effects of UVB exposure, such as burning or tanning, are recognized but medical equipment uses controlled narrow-band delivery – indicating limited wavelength spectrum – which minimises the risks. “Therapy is overseen by qualified practitioners, thus exposure is controlled,” 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 – as opposed to commercial tanning facilities, where oversight might be limited, and emission spectra aren’t confirmed.”

Commercial Products and Research Limitations

Colored light diodes, he explains, “aren’t typically employed clinically, though they might benefit some issues.” Red light devices, some suggest, improve circulatory function, oxygen absorption and skin cell regeneration, and promote collagen synthesis – a key aspiration in anti-ageing effects. “The evidence is there,” states the dermatologist. “Although it’s not strong.” Regardless, given the plethora of available tools, “we’re uncertain whether commercial devices replicate research conditions. Optimal treatment times are unknown, how close the lights should be to the skin, if benefits outweigh potential risks. There are lots of questions.”

Treatment Areas and Specialist Views

Early blue-light applications focused on skin microbes, bacteria linked to pimples. The evidence for its efficacy isn’t strong enough for it to be routinely prescribed by doctors – despite the fact that, explains the specialist, “it’s often seen in medical spas or aesthetics practices.” Some of his patients use it as part of their routine, he says, however for consumer products, “we just tell them to try it carefully and to make sure it has been assessed for safety. Unless it’s a medical device, standards are somewhat unclear.”

Cutting-Edge Studies and Biological Processes

At the same time, in innovative scientific domains, researchers have been testing neural cells, identifying a number of ways in which infrared can boost cellular health. “Pretty much everything I did with the light at that particular wavelength was positive and protective,” he says. Multiple claimed advantages have created skepticism toward light treatment – that results appear unrealistic. But his research has thoroughly changed his mind in that respect.

The scientist mainly develops medications for neurological conditions, 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 pretty sceptical. The specific wavelength measured approximately 1070nm, that many assumed was biologically inert.”

The advantage it possessed, though, was its ability to transmit through aqueous environments, meaning it could penetrate the body more deeply.

Cellular Energy and Neurological Benefits

Growing data suggested infrared influenced energy-producing organelles. Mitochondria produce ATP for cell function, creating power for cellular operations. “Mitochondria exist throughout the body, including the brain,” explains the neuroscientist, who, as a neuroscientist, decided to focus the research on brain cells. “Research confirms improved brain blood flow with phototherapy, which is generally advantageous.”

Using 1070nm wavelength, cellular power plants create limited oxidative molecules. 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.”

These processes show potential for neurological conditions: antioxidant, swelling control, and pro-autophagy – autophagy representing cellular waste disposal.

Current Research Status and Professional Opinions

Upon examining current studies on light therapy for dementia, he states, about 400 people were taking part in four studies, incorporating his preliminary American studies