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Light-based treatment is certainly having a moment. Consumers can purchase illuminated devices targeting issues like complexion problems and aging signs as well as muscle pain and gum disease, recently introduced is a dental hygiene device enhanced with tiny red LEDs, marketed by the company as “a breakthrough in at-home oral care.” Worldwide, 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 feels similar to a full-body light therapy session, enhancing collagen production, soothing sore muscles, relieving inflammation and persistent medical issues as well as supporting brain health.

Research and Reservations

“It appears somewhat mystical,” observes a neuroscience expert, a scientist who has studied phototherapy extensively. Of course, some of light’s effects on our bodies are well established. Sunlight helps us make vitamin D, needed for bone health, immunity, muscles and more. Light exposure controls our sleep-wake cycles, as well, activating brain chemicals and hormonal responses in daylight, and preparing the body for rest as darkness falls. Artificial sun lamps frequently help individuals with seasonal depression to elevate spirits during colder months. 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. During advanced medical investigations, like examinations of infrared influence on cerebral tissue, determining the precise frequency is essential. Photons represent electromagnetic waves, spanning from low-energy radio waves to short-wavelength gamma rays. Light-based treatment utilizes intermediate light frequencies, 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 to manage persistent skin disorders including eczema and psoriasis. It works on the immune system within cells, “and dampens down inflammation,” explains Dr Bernard Ho. “Considerable data validates phototherapy.” UVA goes deeper into the skin than UVB, while the LEDs in consumer devices (usually producing colored light emissions) “generally affect surface layers.”

Risk Assessment and Professional Supervision

UVB radiation effects, including sunburn or skin darkening, are understood but clinical devices employ restricted wavelength ranges – signifying focused frequency bands – that reduces potential hazards. “Treatment is monitored by medical staff, thus exposure is controlled,” explains the dermatologist. And crucially, the light sources are adjusted by technical experts, “to guarantee appropriate wavelength emission – unlike in tanning salons, where oversight might be limited, and emission spectra aren’t confirmed.”

Consumer Devices and Evidence Gaps

Red and blue light sources, he notes, “aren’t typically employed clinically, but could assist with specific concerns.” Red light devices, some suggest, enhance blood flow, oxygen uptake and dermal rejuvenation, and stimulate collagen production – an important goal for anti-aging. “Research exists,” states the dermatologist. “Although it’s not strong.” Nevertheless, amid the sea of devices now available, “we’re uncertain whether commercial devices replicate research conditions. Optimal treatment times are unknown, ideal distance from skin surface, if benefits outweigh potential risks. There are lots of questions.”

Targeted Uses and Expert Opinions

One of the earliest blue-light products targeted Cutibacterium acnes, bacteria linked to pimples. Scientific backing remains inadequate for regular prescription – even though, notes the dermatologist, “it’s commonly used in cosmetic clinics.” 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.”

Advanced Research and Cellular Mechanisms

At the same time, in advanced research areas, researchers have been testing neural cells, discovering multiple mechanisms for infrared’s cellular benefits. “Pretty much everything I did with the light at that particular wavelength was positive and protective,” 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, 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 says. “I was quite suspicious. The specific wavelength measured approximately 1070nm, that many assumed was biologically inert.”

Its beneficial characteristic, though, was that it travelled through water easily, enabling deeper tissue penetration.

Mitochondrial Effects and Brain Health

More evidence was emerging at the time that infrared light targeted the mitochondria in cells. Mitochondria are the powerhouses of cells, creating power for cellular operations. “Every cell in your body has mitochondria, even within brain tissue,” explains the neuroscientist, who concentrated on cerebral applications. “Research confirms improved brain blood flow with phototherapy, which is always very good.”

Using 1070nm wavelength, mitochondria also produce a small amount of a molecule known as reactive oxygen species. In limited quantities these molecules, explains the expert, “stimulates so-called chaperone proteins which look after your mitochondria, preserve cell function and eliminate damaged proteins.”

Such mechanisms indicate hope for cognitive disorders: antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and pro-autophagy – autophagy being the process the cell uses to clear unwanted damaging proteins.

Ongoing Study Progress and Specialist Evaluations

The last time Chazot checked the literature on using the 1070 wavelength on human dementia patients, he says, several hundred individuals participated in various investigations, incorporating his preliminary American studies