‘It seems like sorcery’: is light therapy truly capable of improving your skin, whitening your teeth, and strengthening your joints?
Light therapy is certainly having a surge in popularity. Consumers can purchase glowing gadgets for everything from skin conditions and wrinkles along with aching tissues and gum disease, recently introduced is a toothbrush outfitted with small red light diodes, described by its makers as “a breakthrough for domestic dental hygiene.” Worldwide, the market was worth $1bn in 2024 and is projected to grow to $1.8bn by 2035. You can even go and sit in an infrared sauna, that employ light waves rather than traditional heat sources, your body is warmed directly by infrared light. Based on supporter testimonials, the experience resembles using an LED facial mask, enhancing collagen production, soothing sore muscles, reducing swelling and chronic health conditions and potentially guarding against cognitive decline.
Research and Reservations
“It sounds a bit like witchcraft,” says Paul Chazot, who has researched light therapy for two decades. Of course, certain impacts of light on human physiology are proven. Sunlight helps us make vitamin D, essential for skeletal strength, immune function, and muscular health. Sunlight regulates our circadian rhythms, additionally, 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 combat seasonal emotional slumps. Clearly, light energy is essential for optimal functioning.
Types of Light Therapy
Whereas seasonal affective disorder devices typically employ blue-range light, the majority of phototherapy tools use red or near-infrared wavelengths. In serious clinical research, including research on infrared’s impact on neural cells, finding the right frequency is key. Light is a form of electromagnetic radiation, spanning from low-energy radio waves to the highest-energy (gamma waves). Light-based treatment utilizes intermediate light frequencies, with ultraviolet representing the higher energy invisible light, then visible light (all the colours we see in a rainbow) and infrared light visible through night vision technology.
Ultraviolet treatment has been employed by skin specialists for decades to treat chronic skin conditions such as eczema, psoriasis and vitiligo. It affects cellular immune responses, “and dampens down inflammation,” says a skin specialist. “There’s lots of evidence for phototherapy.” UVA reaches deeper skin layers compared to 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.”
Safety Considerations and Medical Oversight
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 minimises the risks. “Treatment is monitored by medical staff, so the dosage is monitored,” says Ho. Essentially, 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 emission spectra aren’t confirmed.”
Home Devices and Scientific Uncertainty
Red and blue LEDs, he notes, “aren’t typically employed clinically, but they may help with certain conditions.” Red LEDs, it is proposed, improve circulatory function, oxygen utilization and skin cell regeneration, and promote collagen synthesis – an important goal for anti-aging. “Studies are available,” says Ho. “However, it’s limited.” In any case, amid the sea of devices now available, “it’s unclear if device outputs match study parameters. We don’t know the duration, ideal distance from skin surface, if benefits outweigh potential risks. There are lots of questions.”
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, says Ho, “it’s often seen in medical spas or aesthetics practices.” Some of his patients use it as part of their routine, he observes, but if they’re buying a device for home use, “we recommend careful testing and security confirmation. Without proper medical classification, oversight remains ambiguous.”
Innovative Investigations and Molecular Effects
Simultaneously, in advanced research areas, researchers have been testing neural cells, revealing various pathways for light-enhanced cell function. “Nearly every test with precise light frequencies demonstrated advantageous outcomes,” he says. 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. But his research has thoroughly changed his mind in that respect.
The scientist mainly develops medications for neurological conditions, but over 20 years ago, a GP who was developing an antiviral light treatment for cold sores sought his expertise as a biologist. “He designed tools for biological testing,” he explains. “I was quite suspicious. This particular frequency was around 1070 nanometers, which most thought had no biological effect.”
The advantage it possessed, however, was that it travelled through water easily, meaning it could penetrate the body more deeply.
Mitochondrial Impact and Cognitive Support
More evidence was emerging at the time that infrared light targeted the mitochondria in cells. Mitochondria are the powerhouses of cells, generating energy for them to function. “Every cell in your body has mitochondria, particularly in neural cells,” says Chazot, who concentrated on cerebral applications. “Research confirms improved brain blood flow with phototherapy, which is always very good.”
With specific frequency application, energy organelles generate minimal reactive oxygen compounds. In limited quantities these molecules, explains the expert, “triggers guardian proteins that maintain organelle health, protect cellular integrity and manage defective proteins.”
These processes show potential for neurological conditions: oxidative protection, inflammation reduction, and cellular cleanup – self-digestion mechanisms eliminating harmful elements.
Current Research Status and Professional Opinions
The last time Chazot checked the literature on using the 1070 wavelength on human dementia patients, he reports, several hundred individuals participated in various investigations, incorporating his preliminary American studies
