What Is Red Light Therapy?

Red light therapy is a treatment that may help skin, muscle tissue, and other parts of your body heal. It uses low levels of red light to target your skin and cells. It is thought to work by increasing the production of mitochondria, your cells’ energy sources. This may improve cell function and repair.

Red light therapy is also sometimes called low-level laser therapy, low-power laser therapy, low-power laser, or photobiomodulation.

How Does Red Light Therapy Work?

In red light therapy, you expose your skin to a lamp, device, or laser with a red light. It uses an LED (light-emitting diode) that emits the correct spectrum of light. Red LED light travels deeper into the skin than blue LED light, which is sometimes used to treat skin surface conditions such as acne. When the light enters your skin, your mitochondria soak it up and make more energy, which helps cells repair themselves.

Red light therapy uses very low levels of heat and doesn’t hurt or burn the skin. Unlike the light used in tanning booths, it doesn’t expose your skin to damaging UV rays.

What Are the Benefits of Red Light Therapy?

Research on the benefits of red light therapy is ongoing. While more research needs to be done, there is some evidence that it may be useful for several health and beauty concerns.

Red light therapy for pain
Research shows that red light therapy may be useful for relieving some types of pain, particularly pain due to inflammation (irritation and swelling of body tissues). A review of 11 studies looking at the effect of red light therapy on pain found mostly positive results, though the authors said that more studies are needed. In another small study, people with temporomandibular dysfunction (TMD) had less pain, clicking, and jaw tenderness after red light therapy.

Red light therapy for arthritis 
A review of studies found that red light therapy may be a helpful short-term treatment for pain and morning stiffness for patients with rheumatoid arthritis. However, it doesn’t seem to be very helpful for other forms of arthritis, such as osteoarthritis.

Red light therapy for tendinopathy
Tendinopathy is a condition that causes pain and loss of function in your tendons. A review of 17 clinical trials studying the impact of red light on treating tendinopathy found low-to-moderate quality evidence indicating that red light can help relieve pain or improve function.

Red light therapy for hair loss 
A review of multiple studies found that red light therapy can be an effective treatment for androgenic alopecia, a genetic disorder that causes hair loss. Another review of 11 studies found similar promising results. In some studies, hair thickness improved as well as hair growth.