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Light-based treatment is definitely experiencing a moment. Consumers can purchase glowing gadgets designed to address complexion problems and aging signs to aching tissues and periodontal issues, the latest being an oral care tool equipped 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, which use infrared light to warm the body directly, the infrared radiation heats your body itself. According to its devotees, it’s like bathing in one of those LED-lit beauty masks, boosting skin collagen, relaxing muscles, reducing swelling and long-term ailments and potentially guarding against cognitive decline.

The Science and Skepticism

“It feels almost magical,” observes a Durham University professor, a scientist who has studied phototherapy extensively. Naturally, we know light influences biological functions. Sunlight helps us make vitamin D, crucial for strong bones, immune defense, and tissue repair. Light exposure controls our sleep-wake cycles, too, triggering the release of neurochemicals and hormones while we are awake, and signaling the body to slow down for nighttime. Artificial sun lamps frequently help individuals with seasonal depression to elevate spirits during colder months. Clearly, light energy is essential for optimal functioning.

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 rigorous scientific studies, such as Chazot’s investigations into the effects of infrared on brain cells, identifying the optimal wavelength is crucial. Light is a form of electromagnetic radiation, extending from long-wavelength radiation to the highest-energy (gamma waves). Therapeutic light application 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 infrared light visible through night vision technology.

UV light has been used by medical dermatologists for many years to treat chronic skin conditions such as eczema, psoriasis and vitiligo. It modulates intracellular immune mechanisms, “and reduces inflammatory processes,” explains Dr Bernard Ho. “Substantial research supports light therapy.” UVA goes deeper into the skin than UVB, in contrast to LEDs in commercial products (usually producing colored light emissions) “tend to be a bit more superficial.”

Safety Protocols and Medical Guidance

UVB radiation effects, including sunburn or skin darkening, are well known but in medical devices the light is delivered in a “narrow-band” form – signifying focused frequency bands – which decreases danger. “Therapy is overseen by qualified practitioners, thus exposure is controlled,” notes the specialist. And crucially, the lightbulbs are calibrated by medical technicians, “to ensure that the wavelength that’s being delivered is fit for purpose – unlike in tanning salons, where regulations may be lax, and wavelength accuracy isn’t verified.”

Commercial Products and Research Limitations

Red and blue LEDs, 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 activate collagen formation – an important goal for anti-aging. “Studies are available,” comments the expert. “But it’s not conclusive.” 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. Numerous concerns persist.”

Treatment Areas and Specialist Views

One of the earliest blue-light products targeted Cutibacterium acnes, microorganisms connected to breakouts. Research support isn’t sufficient for standard medical recommendation – although, 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 mentions, however for consumer products, “we advise cautious experimentation and safety verification. Unless it’s a medical device, oversight remains ambiguous.”

Advanced Research and Cellular Mechanisms

Meanwhile, 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 states. It is partly these many and varied positive effects on cellular health that have driven skepticism about light therapy – that it’s too good to be true. Yet, experimental evidence has transformed his viewpoint.

Chazot mostly works on developing drug treatments for neurodegenerative diseases, but over 20 years ago, a doctor developing photonic antiviral treatment consulted his scientific background. “He designed tools for biological testing,” he recalls. “I was quite suspicious. The specific wavelength measured approximately 1070nm, that many assumed was biologically inert.”

Its beneficial characteristic, though, was its efficient water penetration, allowing substantial bodily penetration.

Mitochondrial Effects and Brain Health

More evidence was emerging at the time that infrared light targeted the mitochondria in cells. Mitochondria produce ATP for cell function, generating energy for them to function. “Every cell in your body has mitochondria, even within brain tissue,” notes the researcher, who concentrated on cerebral applications. “It has been shown that in humans this light therapy increases blood flow into the brain, which is always very good.”

Using 1070nm wavelength, cellular power plants create limited oxidative molecules. In limited quantities these molecules, notes the scientist, “stimulates so-called chaperone proteins which look after your mitochondria, look after your cells and also deal with the unwanted proteins.”

All of these mechanisms appear promising for treating a brain disease: free radical neutralization, swelling control, and cellular cleanup – 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 states, about 400 people were taking part in four studies, incorporating his preliminary American studies