Light Therapy: History & Science

Light is critical to biology. In plants, sunlight is absorbed to be used as energy by a process called photosynthesis. In the human body, there are more than two hundred light-absorbing cell types including neurons, skin, immune, and stem cells. For humans, sunlight exposure has both positive and negative health effects.

Since the dawn of time, the sun has been thought to have medical and healing properties. Hippocrates was known to prescribe “sunbathing” as part of his management of a variety of conditions. Olympic athletes were required to sunbathe since ancient Greeks believed it to heal and restore their bodies. In the 1900s, Heliotherapy treatment centers became popular throughout Europe, where patrons would enter buildings designed to optimize exposure to the sun’s rays.

In 1967, Hungarian physician Endre Mester, first demonstrated evidence of the benefits of low-level light therapy offering powerful healing properties without harmful effects. Light therapy has been proven to regulate and stimulate cells for higher function and repair. Today, there are over seven hundred clinical trials and thousands of lab studies about light therapies that demonstrate the success of numerous conditions related to healing, repair, beauty, and well-being.

The most widely used applications of light therapy include:

• Tissue Repair/Wound Healing

• Pain, Inflammation, Swelling/Edema

• Radiation-Induced Dermatitis

• Lymphedema

• Oral Mucositis

• Dermatology & Skin Rejuvenation

• Jaundice

• Seasonal Affective Disorder

 Light therapy helps to bridge the gap between light exposure and therapy without the damaging effects that UVA, UVB, pollution, and blue-light play in skin aging and skin cancers.