‘It sounds like witchcraft’: can light therapy really give you better skin, cleaner teeth, stronger joints?

Phototherapy is definitely experiencing a moment. Consumers can purchase illuminated devices for everything from dermatological concerns and fine lines to sore muscles and gum disease, the newest innovation is a toothbrush equipped with tiny red LEDs, promoted by the creators as “a breakthrough for domestic dental hygiene.” Internationally, the sector valued at $1bn last year is expected to increase to $1.8bn within the next decade. Options include full-body infrared sauna sessions, where instead of hot coals (real or electric) heating the air, the thermal energy targets your tissues immediately. As claimed by enthusiasts, it’s like bathing in one of those LED-lit beauty masks, stimulating skin elasticity, relaxing muscles, reducing swelling and chronic health conditions and potentially guarding against cognitive decline.

Research and Reservations

“It feels almost magical,” says a neuroscience expert, who has researched light therapy for two decades. Of course, we know light influences biological functions. Our bodies produce vitamin D through sun exposure, 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. Daylight-simulating devices are standard treatment for winter mood disorders to boost low mood in winter. Undoubtedly, light plays a vital role in human health.

Various Phototherapy Approaches

While Sad lamps tend to use a mixture of light frequencies from the blue end of the spectrum, the majority of phototherapy tools use red or near-infrared wavelengths. During advanced medical investigations, including research on infrared’s impact on neural cells, finding the right frequency is key. Light constitutes electromagnetic energy, spanning from low-energy radio waves to high-energy gamma radiation. Phototherapy, or light therapy uses wavelengths around the middle of this spectrum, the highest energy of those being invisible ultraviolet, then the visible spectrum we perceive as 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 suppresses swelling,” explains a dermatology expert. “There’s lots of evidence for phototherapy.” UVA goes deeper into the skin than UVB, whereas the LEDs we see on consumer light-therapy devices (which generally deliver red, infrared or blue light) “tend to be a bit more superficial.”

Risk Assessment and Professional Supervision

The side-effects of UVB exposure, such as burning or tanning, are understood but clinical devices employ restricted wavelength ranges – meaning smaller wavelengths – which decreases danger. “Treatment is monitored by medical staff, meaning intensity is regulated,” explains the dermatologist. Most importantly, the lightbulbs are calibrated by medical technicians, “to ensure that the wavelength that’s being delivered is fit for purpose – as opposed to commercial tanning facilities, where it’s a bit unregulated, and wavelength accuracy isn’t verified.”

Commercial Products and Research Limitations

Red and blue light sources, he explains, “aren’t really used in the medical sense, though they might benefit some issues.” Red light devices, some suggest, enhance blood flow, oxygen uptake and cell renewal in the skin, and stimulate collagen production – a primary objective in youth preservation. “Studies are available,” comments the expert. “Although it’s not strong.” Nevertheless, 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. We don’t know the duration, how close the lights should be to the skin, 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. The evidence for its efficacy isn’t strong enough for it to be routinely prescribed by doctors – even though, says Ho, “it’s commonly used in cosmetic clinics.” Certain patients incorporate it into their regimen, he says, though when purchasing home devices, “we recommend careful testing and security confirmation. Unless it’s a medical device, oversight remains ambiguous.”

Cutting-Edge Studies and Biological Processes

Meanwhile, in innovative scientific domains, researchers have been testing neural cells, revealing various pathways for light-enhanced cell function. “Pretty much everything I did with the light at that particular wavelength was positive and protective,” he says. Multiple claimed advantages have created skepticism toward light treatment – 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, however two decades past, a doctor developing photonic antiviral treatment consulted his scientific background. “He developed equipment for cellular and insect experiments,” he says. “I was quite suspicious. It was an unusual wavelength of about 1070 nanometres, that many assumed was biologically inert.”

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

Mitochondrial Effects and Brain Health

Additional research indicated infrared affected cellular mitochondria. Mitochondria produce ATP for cell function, generating energy for them to function. “Every cell in your body has 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 consistently beneficial.”

With 1070 treatment, mitochondria also produce a small amount of a molecule known as reactive oxygen species. In limited quantities these molecules, says Chazot, “activates protective proteins that safeguard mitochondria, protect cellular integrity and manage defective proteins.”

These processes show potential for neurological conditions: oxidative protection, swelling control, and pro-autophagy – autophagy being the process the cell uses to clear unwanted damaging proteins.

Present Investigation Status and Expert Assessments

When recently reviewing 1070nm research for cognitive decline, he says, approximately 400 participants enrolled in multiple trials, incorporating his preliminary American studies