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

Light-based treatment is clearly enjoying a surge in popularity. Consumers can purchase light-emitting tools targeting issues like complexion problems and aging signs to sore muscles and gum disease, the newest innovation is a toothbrush outfitted with tiny red LEDs, marketed by the company as “a significant discovery in at-home oral care.” Globally, the industry reached $1 billion in 2024 and is forecast to expand to $1.8 billion 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, the experience resembles using an LED facial mask, enhancing collagen production, soothing sore muscles, reducing swelling and long-term ailments and potentially guarding against cognitive decline.

Understanding the Evidence

“It feels almost magical,” says Paul Chazot, professor in neuroscience at Durham University and a convert to the value of light therapy. Naturally, some of light’s effects on our bodies are well established. Our bodies produce vitamin D through sun exposure, essential for skeletal strength, immune function, and muscular health. Light exposure controls our sleep-wake cycles, additionally, triggering the release of neurochemicals and hormones while we are awake, and preparing the body for rest as darkness falls. Daylight-simulating devices are standard treatment for winter mood disorders to combat seasonal emotional slumps. 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, consumer light therapy products mostly feature red and infrared emissions. In serious clinical research, such as Chazot’s investigations into the effects of infrared on brain cells, finding the right frequency is key. Light is a form of electromagnetic radiation, extending from long-wavelength radiation to high-energy gamma radiation. Light-based treatment utilizes intermediate light frequencies, the highest energy of those being invisible ultraviolet, then visible light (all the colours we see in a rainbow) and infrared light visible through night vision technology.

Dermatologists have utilized UV therapy for extensive periods to treat chronic skin conditions such as eczema, psoriasis and vitiligo. It modulates intracellular immune mechanisms, “and dampens down inflammation,” explains Dr Bernard Ho. “Considerable data validates phototherapy.” UVA penetrates skin more deeply than UVB, while the LEDs in consumer devices (usually producing colored light emissions) “typically have shallower penetration.”

Risk Assessment and Professional Supervision

UVB radiation effects, such as burning or tanning, are recognized but medical equipment uses controlled narrow-band delivery – meaning smaller wavelengths – that reduces potential hazards. “Therapy is overseen by qualified practitioners, so the dosage is monitored,” notes the specialist. Most importantly, the devices are tuned by qualified personnel, “to guarantee appropriate wavelength emission – as opposed to commercial tanning facilities, where it’s a bit unregulated, and wavelength accuracy isn’t verified.”

Consumer Devices and Evidence Gaps

Red and blue light sources, he explains, “aren’t typically employed clinically, though they might benefit some issues.” Red LEDs, it is proposed, enhance blood flow, oxygen utilization and dermal rejuvenation, and activate collagen formation – an important goal for anti-aging. “The evidence is there,” states the dermatologist. “But it’s not conclusive.” In any case, amid the sea of devices now available, “we’re uncertain whether commercial devices replicate research conditions. We don’t know the duration, proper positioning requirements, the risk-benefit ratio. There are lots of questions.”

Treatment Areas and Specialist Views

Initial blue-light devices addressed acne bacteria, microorganisms connected to breakouts. The evidence for its efficacy isn’t strong enough for it to be routinely prescribed by doctors – although, explains the specialist, “it’s often seen in medical spas or aesthetics practices.” Individuals include it in their skincare practices, he says, though when purchasing home devices, “we advise cautious experimentation and safety verification. Without proper medical classification, standards are somewhat unclear.”

Innovative Investigations and Molecular Effects

Meanwhile, in a far-flung field of pioneering medical science, researchers have been testing neural cells, revealing various pathways for light-enhanced cell function. “Virtually all experiments with specific wavelengths showed beneficial and safeguarding effects,” he reports. The numerous reported benefits have generated doubt regarding phototherapy – 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, but over 20 years ago, a physician creating light-based cold sore therapy requested his biological knowledge. “He designed tools for biological testing,” he says. “I was quite suspicious. It was an unusual wavelength of about 1070 nanometres, which most thought had no biological effect.”

Its beneficial characteristic, though, was that it travelled through water easily, allowing substantial bodily penetration.

Mitochondrial Effects and Brain Health

Additional research indicated infrared affected cellular mitochondria. Mitochondria are the powerhouses of cells, generating energy for them to function. “Mitochondria exist throughout the body, particularly in neural cells,” says Chazot, who concentrated on cerebral applications. “It has been shown that in humans this light therapy increases blood flow into the brain, which is consistently beneficial.”

With 1070 treatment, cellular power plants create limited oxidative molecules. In limited quantities these molecules, says Chazot, “triggers guardian proteins that maintain organelle health, preserve cell function and eliminate damaged proteins.”

Such mechanisms indicate hope for cognitive disorders: 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

Upon examining current studies on light therapy for dementia, he says, several hundred individuals participated in various investigations, incorporating his preliminary American studies