How Does Red Light Therapy Work?

You’ve heard the hype about red light therapy in wound care and aesthetics, but did you know it also offers benefits for certain eye conditions? We take a closer look at how red light therapy works and whether it may work for you.

At Wicker Park Eye Center in Chicago, Illinois, we invest time and effort researching the latest advancements in eye health and vision care, bringing only the best diagnostic and treatment technology to our practice.

Red light therapy is among those advancements, and we’re excited to offer this innovative treatment option to those in our care. Today, let’s explore how red light therapy works and how it could help improve your eye health.

What’s red light therapy?

Light is a type of electromagnetic radiation that exists as a spectrum; red light is a low-energy form of light with wavelengths under 750 nanometers. Red light has the longest wavelengths among the colors that humans can detect visually.

The next longest wavelengths of light are known as infrared, and also have therapeutic applications. Red light therapy is also called low-level light therapy.

Red light therapy is often confused with laser therapy. Both approaches harness the power of light for therapeutic applications, but red light therapy is much less powerful than laser light.

Red light therapy uses low-powered LED lights to deliver safe and effective treatments without damaging various tissue types.

How red light therapy works

Red light therapy prompts a response in the mitochondria in human cells. As you might recall from middle school science, mitochondria are known as the “powerhouse” of our cells.

Boosting mitochondrial activity helps cells perform better. Red light therapy can deliver the following effects:

Enhanced circulation
Reduced inflammation
Muscle and tissue repair
Renewed healing
Pain relief

Red light therapy is a popular treatment modality in medical aesthetics, wound care, and arthritis treatment.

How can red light therapy enhance eye health?

At Wicker Park Eye Center, one of the ways we use red light therapy is in treating chalazions, which appear as red lumps or bumps on the eyelid. A chalazion develops when an oil gland on the eyelid becomes clogged.

A chalazion is similar to a stye, which also results from blocked oil glands. Styes, however, are bacterial infections that affect the edge of the eyelid, while chalazions develop a bit farther from the edge.

Red light therapy can treat chalazions by stimulating the body’s innate healing abilities. It helps reduce inflammation in the area, increases circulation to improve healing, and supports improved oil gland function to prevent future clogging. Treatment also helps relieve any pain.

What other eye health conditions might benefit?

Research is ongoing into how red light therapy can assist in treating several eye health issues. The Food and Drug Administration has approved a device for treating age-related macular degeneration (dry type) in adults.

Dry age-related macular degeneration is notoriously difficult to treat, and red light therapy appears to improve the condition in people in the early onset stages.

Researchers are also examining whether red light therapy can effectively treat diabetic eye disease, loss of color vision, dry eye disease, and glaucoma.

As scientists learn more about red light therapy and its benefits for eye health, rest assured that Wicker Park Eye Center will keep pace with advancements in treatment technologies.

If you have questions about how red light therapy can help you, call our office or schedule an appointment online today.