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Phototherapy is certainly having a moment. There are now available light-emitting tools for everything from skin conditions and wrinkles to muscle pain and periodontal issues, recently introduced is an oral care tool equipped with tiny red LEDs, described by its makers as “a significant discovery for domestic dental hygiene.” Internationally, the sector valued at $1bn last year is expected to increase to $1.8bn within the next decade. There are even infrared saunas available, which use infrared light to warm the body directly, your body is warmed directly by infrared light. As claimed by enthusiasts, the experience resembles using an LED facial mask, stimulating skin elasticity, easing muscle tension, relieving inflammation and long-term ailments as well as supporting brain health.

Understanding the Evidence

“It appears somewhat mystical,” says Paul Chazot, a scientist who has studied phototherapy extensively. Certainly, certain impacts of light on human physiology are proven. Sunlight helps us make vitamin D, crucial for strong bones, immune defense, and tissue repair. Light exposure controls our sleep-wake cycles, as well, triggering the release of neurochemicals and hormones while we are awake, and preparing the body for rest as darkness falls. Artificial sun lamps are a common remedy for people with seasonal affective disorder (Sad) to elevate spirits during colder months. Clearly, light energy is essential for optimal functioning.

Different Light Modalities

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, such as Chazot’s investigations into the effects of infrared on brain cells, determining the precise frequency is essential. Light constitutes electromagnetic energy, extending from long-wavelength radiation to high-energy gamma radiation. Phototherapy, or light therapy employs mid-spectrum wavelengths, including invisible ultraviolet radiation, then visible light (all the colours we see in a rainbow) and finally infrared detectable with special equipment.

Ultraviolet treatment has been employed by skin specialists for decades for addressing long-term dermatological issues like vitiligo. It modulates intracellular immune mechanisms, “and dampens down inflammation,” explains a dermatology expert. “Substantial research supports light therapy.” 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, like erythema or pigmentation, are understood but clinical devices employ restricted wavelength ranges – meaning smaller wavelengths – which minimises the risks. “It’s supervised by a healthcare professional, thus exposure is controlled,” notes the specialist. Essentially, the devices are tuned by qualified personnel, “to guarantee appropriate wavelength emission – as opposed to commercial tanning facilities, where regulations may be lax, and emission spectra aren’t confirmed.”

Commercial Products and Research Limitations

Red and blue light sources, he explains, “aren’t typically employed clinically, but they may help with certain conditions.” Red wavelength therapy, proponents claim, enhance blood flow, oxygen absorption and dermal rejuvenation, and promote collagen synthesis – a key aspiration in anti-ageing effects. “Research exists,” states the dermatologist. “Although it’s not strong.” In any case, given the plethora of available tools, “we’re uncertain whether commercial devices replicate research conditions. Appropriate exposure periods aren’t established, proper positioning requirements, the risk-benefit ratio. Many uncertainties remain.”

Targeted Uses and Expert Opinions

Early blue-light applications focused on skin microbes, a microbe associated with acne. The evidence for its efficacy isn’t strong enough for it to be routinely prescribed by doctors – despite the fact that, says Ho, “it’s frequently employed in beauty centers.” Some of his patients use it as part of their routine, he says, however for consumer products, “we advise cautious experimentation and safety verification. If it’s not medically certified, the regulation is a bit grey.”

Advanced Research and Cellular Mechanisms

At the same time, in advanced research areas, Chazot has been experimenting with brain cells, discovering multiple mechanisms for infrared’s cellular benefits. “Virtually all experiments with specific wavelengths showed beneficial and safeguarding effects,” he reports. It is partly these many and varied positive effects on cellular health that have driven skepticism about light therapy – that results appear unrealistic. Yet, experimental evidence has transformed his viewpoint.

Chazot mostly works on developing drug treatments for neurodegenerative diseases, however two decades past, a physician creating light-based cold sore therapy requested his biological knowledge. “He created some devices so that we could work with them with cells and with fruit flies,” he recalls. “I was quite suspicious. It was an unusual wavelength of about 1070 nanometres, that nobody believed did anything biological.”

Its beneficial characteristic, nevertheless, was its efficient water penetration, enabling deeper tissue penetration.

Mitochondrial Impact and Cognitive Support

Additional research indicated infrared affected cellular mitochondria. These organelles generate cellular energy, creating power for cellular operations. “All human cells contain mitochondria, particularly in neural cells,” explains the neuroscientist, who, as a neuroscientist, decided to focus the research on brain cells. “It has been shown that in humans this light therapy increases blood flow into the brain, which is always very good.”

With specific frequency application, cellular power plants create limited oxidative molecules. At controlled levels these compounds, explains the expert, “stimulates so-called chaperone proteins which look after your mitochondria, look after your cells and also deal with the unwanted proteins.”

These processes show potential for neurological conditions: free radical neutralization, swelling control, and cellular cleanup – autophagy being the process the cell uses to clear unwanted damaging proteins.

Present Investigation Status and Expert Assessments

The last time Chazot checked the literature on using the 1070 wavelength on human dementia patients, he says, about 400 people were taking part in four studies, incorporating his preliminary American studies