🔗 Share this article

Phototherapy is certainly having a surge in popularity. You can now buy glowing gadgets for everything from dermatological concerns and fine lines along with muscle pain and periodontal issues, the latest being a dental hygiene device enhanced with tiny red LEDs, marketed by the company as “a significant discovery in personal mouth health.” Globally, the market was worth $1bn in 2024 and is projected to grow to $1.8bn by 2035. Options include full-body infrared sauna sessions, which use infrared light to warm the body directly, the infrared radiation heats your body itself. Based on supporter testimonials, it feels similar to a full-body light therapy session, boosting skin collagen, easing muscle tension, alleviating inflammatory responses and long-term ailments and potentially guarding against cognitive decline.

Understanding the Evidence

“It appears somewhat mystical,” observes a Durham University professor, a scientist who has studied phototherapy extensively. Of course, some of light’s effects on our bodies are well established. Sunlight enables vitamin D production, essential for skeletal strength, immune function, and muscular health. Light exposure controls our sleep-wake cycles, too, activating brain chemicals and hormonal responses in daylight, and preparing the body for rest as darkness falls. Sunlight-imitating lamps are standard treatment for winter mood disorders to boost low mood in winter. So there’s no doubt we need light energy to function well.

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, identifying the optimal wavelength is crucial. Photons represent electromagnetic waves, spanning from low-energy radio waves to high-energy gamma radiation. Light-based treatment employs mid-spectrum wavelengths, with ultraviolet representing the higher energy invisible light, followed by visible light encompassing rainbow colors and then infrared (which we can see with night-vision goggles).

Ultraviolet treatment has been employed by skin specialists for decades to manage persistent skin disorders including eczema and psoriasis. It affects cellular immune responses, “and dampens down inflammation,” notes a skin specialist. “There’s lots of evidence for phototherapy.” UVA penetrates skin more deeply than UVB, whereas the LEDs we see on consumer light-therapy devices (which generally deliver red, infrared or blue light) “typically have shallower penetration.”

Safety Considerations and Medical Oversight

Potential UVB consequences, like erythema or pigmentation, are well known but in medical devices the light is delivered in a “narrow-band” form – signifying focused frequency bands – that reduces potential hazards. “Therapy is overseen by qualified practitioners, so the dosage is monitored,” notes the specialist. And crucially, the lightbulbs are calibrated by medical technicians, “to confirm suitable light frequency output – as opposed to commercial tanning facilities, where regulations may be lax, and wavelength accuracy isn’t verified.”

Commercial Products and Research Limitations

Colored light diodes, he notes, “aren’t really used in the medical sense, but could assist with specific concerns.” Red wavelength therapy, proponents claim, enhance blood flow, oxygen uptake and cell renewal in the skin, and activate collagen formation – a primary objective in youth preservation. “Studies are available,” says Ho. “Although it’s not strong.” Regardless, given the plethora of available tools, “we’re uncertain whether commercial devices replicate research conditions. Appropriate exposure periods aren’t established, ideal distance from skin surface, if benefits outweigh potential risks. Many uncertainties remain.”

Treatment Areas and Specialist Views

Initial blue-light devices addressed acne bacteria, a microbe associated with acne. The evidence for its efficacy isn’t strong enough for it to be routinely prescribed by doctors – even though, explains the specialist, “it’s commonly used in cosmetic clinics.” Some of his patients use it as part of their routine, he mentions, however for consumer products, “we advise cautious experimentation and safety verification. If it’s not medically certified, standards are somewhat unclear.”

Advanced Research and Cellular Mechanisms

Meanwhile, in innovative scientific domains, scientists have been studying cerebral tissue, discovering multiple mechanisms for infrared’s cellular benefits. “Nearly every test with precise light frequencies demonstrated advantageous outcomes,” he says. The numerous reported benefits have generated doubt regarding phototherapy – that results appear unrealistic. Yet, experimental evidence has transformed his viewpoint.

The scientist mainly develops medications for neurological conditions, though twenty years earlier, a doctor developing photonic antiviral treatment consulted his scientific background. “He designed tools for biological testing,” he recalls. “I was pretty sceptical. This particular frequency was around 1070 nanometers, that many assumed was biologically inert.”

Its beneficial characteristic, however, was its ability to transmit through aqueous environments, enabling deeper tissue penetration.

Mitochondrial Impact and Cognitive Support

Growing data suggested infrared influenced energy-producing organelles. Mitochondria are the powerhouses of cells, creating power for cellular operations. “Mitochondria exist throughout the body, including the brain,” says Chazot, who prioritized neurological investigations. “Studies demonstrate enhanced cerebral circulation with light treatment, which is consistently beneficial.”

Using 1070nm wavelength, mitochondria also produce a small amount of a molecule known as reactive oxygen species. In limited quantities these molecules, says Chazot, “stimulates so-called chaperone proteins which look after your mitochondria, protect cellular integrity and manage defective proteins.”

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

Current Research Status and Professional Opinions

When recently reviewing 1070nm research for cognitive decline, he says, about 400 people were taking part in four studies, incorporating his preliminary American studies