As we age we can experience a variety of unpleasant changes such as new aches, pains, and wrinkles in places you never expected to have them. Fortunately, there are things you can do to combat these changes that are a part of aging and turn back the hands of time. A new anti-aging therapy called Red light therapy is a relatively new health trend and treatment that is quickly proving to be beneficial for a wide variety of physical ailments. This emerging health treatment has been showing strong evidence of being beneficial in the treatment of wrinkles, redness, acne, scars and other signs of aging. Outside of the purported skin benefits of red light therapy, there is also promising data that supports the idea that it is also beneficial in reducing inflammation and repairing muscle tissue. But what exactly is red light therapy and how does it work?
Although it only became popular recently, red light therapy has been around for quite some time. Red light therapy or RLT for short, was accidentally discovered by Endre Mester in 1967 at the Semmelweis Medical University in Budapest, Hungary when he observed that laser light helped promote hair growth and wound healing in rats. Since its discovery, researchers have continued learning new things about this promising health practice and what kind of benefits it can possibly have, causing its popularity to skyrocket in recent years. This exciting new therapeutic treatment, involves using low wavelength red light to reportedly improve your skin’s appearance by boosting new cell growth through giving your body’s mitochondria cells more energy. Thanks to the increased energy your body’s mitochondria receive from the red light, your other cells can do their jobs more efficiently leading to improved skin repair, hair follicle regeneration/strength, and improving blood circulation to your skin and muscle tissue. Thus leading to the improvement of your overall health.
A number of scientific researchers and medical institutions have set out to study the effects of red light therapy on various health markers in order to understand RLT’s overall effectiveness. A 2020 study in the Journal of Drugs in Dermatology found that, “light emitting diode (LED) phototherapy may be effective when it comes to treating aging skin, with red light therapy showing promise for positive skin rejuvenation effects by boosting fibroblasts which make collagen”, supporting the idea that RLT (Red Light Therapy) can reduce fine lines and wrinkles. According to a study published by The National Library of Medicine, “Red light therapy showed no adverse side effects and resolution of symptoms for patients suffering from psoriasis”. This suggests that treatment with low level red light can aid in the repair of skin cells and improve overall skin health. Additionally the FDA, based on its own research, approved a red light therapy laser called the “FibroLux” for the treatment of fibromyalgia pain. Further supporting the therapy’s pain relieve and anti-inflammatory benefits.
Another health benefit claimed by advocates for the use of red light therapy is enhanced fat loss. A study published in The Journal of Obesity Surgery regularly exposed 40 adults with excess weight to red light to measure its effects on weight loss and management. Their research found that the participants adipocyte cells released triglycerides, resulting in a loss of fat and overall weight reduction. Further supporting RLT’s claims of fat reduction, Lasers in Surgery and Medicine published a separate study that concluded red light therapy could increase fat loss when paired with exercise. Their study used two groups with each working out for 20 minutes three times per week, one group receiving red light therapy with the second group receiving a placebo light therapy. Despite these findings, their are still some critics of RLT’s effectiveness.
However, not all health experts are quite sold on the effectiveness of red light therapy. According to Elaine F. Kung, M.D., founder of Future Bright Dermatology in New York and assistant clinical professor at Weill-Cornell Medical College, “It is important to keep in mind that many of the published studies using red light therapy are often small (less than 30 people).” Due to these small sample sizes that are present in many of the aforementioned studies, health experts such as Dr. Kung are understandably skeptical about the true benefit of RLT treatments. That being said, the preliminary test results and data of these studies have shown great promise and potential for red light therapy for a variety of health applications. On the bright side, there has been very little evidence showing any negative health effects for RLT, making it a fairly low-risk health practice to try out. So if you’re is looking to try a new skin treatment, reduce tissue inflammation, or simply try a new weight loss method, RLT may be the low-risk, high-reward method you’ve been looking for.
Sources:
Red light therapy: Benefits, side effects and uses. Forbes. July 20, 2023. Accessed July 20, 2023. https://www.forbes.com/health/body/red-light-therapy/.
Professional CC medical. Red light therapy: Benefits, Side Effects & Uses. Cleveland Clinic. Accessed July 20, 2023. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/22114-red-light-therapy.
Avci P, Gupta A, Sadasivam M, et al. Low-level laser (light) therapy (LLLT) in skin: Stimulating, healing, restoring. Seminars in cutaneous medicine and surgery. March 2013. Accessed July 20, 2023. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4126803/.
Red light therapy: Uses, benefits, and risks. Healthline. Accessed July 20, 2023. https://www.healthline.com/health/red-light-therapy.
Light emitting diode phototherapy for skin aging – jddonline – journal of drugs in dermatology. JDDonline. Accessed July 20, 2023. https://jddonline.com/articles/light-emitting-diode-phototherapy-for-skin-aging-S1545961620P0359X/.
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