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Light therapy is certainly having a surge in popularity. Consumers can purchase illuminated devices for everything from dermatological concerns and fine lines to sore muscles and periodontal issues, the latest being a dental hygiene device enhanced with small red light diodes, marketed by the company as “a breakthrough in personal mouth health.” Internationally, the industry reached $1 billion in 2024 and is forecast to expand to $1.8 billion by 2035. There are even infrared saunas available, where instead of hot coals (real or electric) heating the air, 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, reducing swelling and persistent medical issues as well as supporting brain health.

Research and Reservations

“It sounds a bit like witchcraft,” notes Paul Chazot, a scientist who has studied phototherapy extensively. Of course, we know light influences biological functions. Sunlight enables vitamin D production, essential for skeletal strength, immune function, and muscular health. Light exposure controls our sleep-wake cycles, too, triggering the release of neurochemicals and hormones while we are awake, and winding down bodily functions for sleep as it fades into night. Artificial sun lamps 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

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, like examinations of infrared influence on cerebral tissue, identifying the optimal wavelength is crucial. Light is a form of electromagnetic radiation, extending from long-wavelength radiation to the highest-energy (gamma waves). Phototherapy, or light therapy employs mid-spectrum wavelengths, with ultraviolet representing the higher energy invisible light, then the visible spectrum we perceive as colors and infrared light visible through night vision technology.

Ultraviolet treatment has been employed by skin specialists for decades to treat chronic skin conditions such as eczema, psoriasis and vitiligo. It affects cellular immune responses, “and reduces inflammatory processes,” explains a skin specialist. “Considerable data validates phototherapy.” UVA goes deeper into the skin than 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

UVB radiation effects, such as burning or tanning, are understood but clinical devices employ restricted wavelength ranges – meaning smaller wavelengths – which minimises the risks. “It’s supervised by a healthcare professional, so the dosage is monitored,” notes the specialist. Essentially, the devices are tuned by qualified personnel, “to ensure that the wavelength that’s being delivered is fit for purpose – unlike in tanning salons, where oversight might be limited, and we don’t really know what wavelengths are being used.”

Consumer Devices and Evidence Gaps

Colored light diodes, he says, “aren’t typically employed clinically, but they may help with certain conditions.” Red light devices, some suggest, improve circulatory function, oxygen utilization and skin cell regeneration, and stimulate collagen production – an important goal for anti-aging. “The evidence is there,” states the dermatologist. “Although it’s not strong.” 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. Optimal treatment times are unknown, proper positioning requirements, the risk-benefit ratio. Many uncertainties remain.”

Targeted Uses and Expert Opinions

Early blue-light applications focused on skin microbes, bacteria linked to pimples. Scientific backing remains inadequate for regular prescription – even though, explains the specialist, “it’s commonly used in cosmetic clinics.” Some of his patients use it as part of their routine, he observes, though when purchasing home devices, “we just tell them to try it carefully and to make sure it has been assessed for safety. Unless it’s a medical device, oversight remains ambiguous.”

Innovative Investigations and Molecular Effects

At the same time, in innovative scientific domains, researchers have been testing neural cells, discovering multiple mechanisms for infrared’s cellular benefits. “Virtually all experiments with specific wavelengths showed beneficial and safeguarding effects,” he reports. Multiple claimed advantages have created skepticism toward light treatment – that it’s too good to be true. But his research has thoroughly changed his mind in that respect.

Chazot mostly works on developing drug treatments for neurodegenerative diseases, but over 20 years ago, a GP who was developing an antiviral light treatment for cold sores sought his expertise as a biologist. “He developed equipment for cellular and insect experiments,” he explains. “I was quite suspicious. It was an unusual wavelength of about 1070 nanometres, which most thought had no biological effect.”

What it did have going for it, though, was that it travelled through water easily, meaning it could penetrate the body more deeply.

Cellular Energy and Neurological Benefits

More evidence was emerging at the time that infrared light targeted the mitochondria in cells. These organelles generate cellular energy, producing fuel for biological processes. “Every cell in your body has mitochondria, including the brain,” explains the neuroscientist, who concentrated on cerebral applications. “Research confirms improved brain blood flow with phototherapy, which is consistently beneficial.”

Using 1070nm wavelength, cellular power plants create limited oxidative molecules. In limited quantities these molecules, says Chazot, “stimulates so-called chaperone proteins which look after your mitochondria, preserve cell function and eliminate damaged proteins.”

All of these mechanisms appear promising for treating a brain disease: oxidative protection, swelling control, and waste removal – self-digestion mechanisms eliminating harmful elements.

Current Research Status and Professional Opinions

When recently reviewing 1070nm research for cognitive decline, he reports, approximately 400 participants enrolled in multiple trials, comprising his early research projects