Red Light Therapy: Eye Health Miracle?
Summary
TLDRThis video explores red light therapy's impact on eye health and vision, addressing its potential benefits and safety concerns. It explains how red light therapy, known for promoting healing and reducing inflammation, may improve retinal conditions, treat dry eye disease, and even slow myopia development in children. Despite promising research, the presenter emphasizes the need for caution due to the newness of this science and the lack of FDA approval for eye treatments, highlighting the importance of proper device usage to avoid potential harm.
Takeaways
- 🔴 Red light therapy, also known as low-level light therapy or photobiomodulation, uses red light wavelengths to treat various health conditions, primarily promoting healing, reducing inflammation, and alleviating pain.
- 👀 Historically, red light therapy has been used in dermatology for skin health, treating acne, promoting hair growth for alopecia, and aiding athlete recovery.
- 🌟 The therapy is believed to work by activating cellular mitochondria, increasing ATP production necessary for cellular function and repair, and enhancing nitric oxide within cells for antioxidant activity and metabolism.
- 👓 Research indicates red light therapy may be beneficial for retinal conditions like macular degeneration and diabetic eye issues, potentially reducing drusen buildup, geographic atrophy, and improving visual acuity.
- 💉 Red light therapy has been approved for treating age-related macular degeneration in Europe and Latin America, offering an alternative to injections for severe cases.
- 👁️ For diabetics, the therapy could help reduce swelling in the retinal tissue known as diabetic macular edema, which is currently mainly treated with eye injections.
- 🌱 Red light therapy is being explored for treating dry eye disease, potentially stimulating oil glands for better oil production and improving blood circulation and reducing inflammation in the eyelids.
- 👁️🗨️ It has shown effectiveness in treating chalazions or styes, with one study reporting a 92% success rate within just two treatments.
- 🧒 Research suggests that red light therapy may slow down the development of myopia in children, with a meta-analysis showing a reduction in myopia progression and axial length elongation.
- ⚠️ There are significant safety concerns with red light therapy for the eyes, as the long-term effects are not fully understood, and many devices on the market are not designed for ocular use.
- 🇺🇸 Red light therapy is not currently FDA approved for treating eye diseases in the US, but there are ongoing trials, and it may become approved in the near future.
Q & A
What is red light therapy and what are its common names?
-Red light therapy is a treatment that uses low-level wavelengths of red light to promote healing, reduce inflammation, and alleviate pain. It is also known as low-level light therapy or photobiomodulation.
How does red light therapy work in terms of cellular function?
-Red light therapy is believed to work by activating cellular mitochondria, which are known as the powerhouse of the cell. This helps increase the production of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which is necessary for cellular function and repair. Additionally, it stimulates the production of nitric oxide, which plays a role in antioxidant activity, metabolism, and reducing inflammation.
What is the significance of the wavelength range between 600 and 1000 nanometers in red light therapy?
-The wavelengths between 600 and 1000 nanometers are special because they penetrate deeper into tissues and are absorbed by cells without causing too much heat. This is important as excessive heat can damage cells.
How has red light therapy been historically used in dermatology?
-Historically, red light therapy has been used in dermatology to promote collagen formation, treat acne, and stimulate hair growth for people with alopecia.
What are the potential benefits of red light therapy for retinal conditions?
-Red light therapy has shown potential in helping with retinal conditions like macular degeneration and diabetes. It can decrease the size and volume of drusen, reduce the progression of geographic atrophy, improve visual acuity, and boost color vision and contrast sensitivity.
How is red light therapy used in the treatment of dry eye disease?
-Red light therapy may be used to treat dry eye disease by stimulating the oil glands of the eye to produce better oils, improving blood circulation, and reducing inflammation in the eyelids.
What is the reported effectiveness of red light therapy in treating chalazions or eyelid styes?
-One study reported a 92% effective treatment rate for chalazions within just two treatments using red light therapy.
How does red light therapy potentially slow down the development of myopia in children?
-A meta-analysis from 2023 reported that daily use of red light therapy can slow down myopia by 0.68 diopters of glasses power within 6 months, which translates to a slowing down of axial length or elongation of the eyeball by about 0.35 millimeters.
What are the major safety concerns associated with red light therapy for the eyes?
-There are concerns about the short-term or long-term consequences of red light exposure on the eyes and parts of the brain. Many LED red light devices on the market are not designed specifically for the eyes and may not have the correct wavelength, power density, or fluence, potentially causing damage to the retina.
Is red light therapy FDA approved for the treatment of any eye diseases in the US?
-As of the time the script was written, red light therapy is not FDA approved for the treatment of any eye diseases in the US. However, there is at least one device undergoing FDA trials for the treatment of macular degeneration.
What is the role of ATP in the context of red light therapy?
-ATP, or adenosine triphosphate, is crucial for cellular function and repair. Red light therapy helps increase ATP production, which can enhance cellular health and support healing processes.
Outlines
🔴 Red Light Therapy: An Overview
This paragraph introduces red light therapy, discussing its potential effects on eye health and vision. It mentions the widespread availability of red light therapy products for skin and muscle recovery, but emphasizes the importance of understanding safety concerns before use. The script outlines the basic concept of red light therapy, also known as low-level light therapy or photobiomodulation, which uses specific wavelengths of red light to promote healing, reduce inflammation, and alleviate pain. Historical uses in dermatology and recent research in various medical fields are highlighted. The mechanism of action involves activating cellular mitochondria to increase ATP production, which is crucial for cellular function and repair, and the special properties of red light wavelengths that allow deeper tissue penetration without excessive heat generation.
👀 Research on Red Light Therapy for Eye Conditions
The second paragraph delves into the research findings on red light therapy's impact on eye health. It discusses the therapy's potential benefits for retinal conditions, particularly age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy, where it has been shown to reduce drusen buildup, slow geographic atrophy progression, and improve visual acuity. The script also covers red light therapy's application in treating dry eye disease, potentially stimulating oil gland production and improving blood circulation. Additionally, it highlights a study showing a 92% effectiveness rate in treating chalazions with red light therapy. The paragraph concludes with research on slowing myopia development in children using red light, suggesting a decrease in myopia progression and axial length elongation with daily use of a red light LED device.
⚠️ Safety Considerations and Current Red Light Therapy Devices
The final paragraph focuses on the safety aspects of red light therapy for the eyes. It underscores the novelty of this science, especially concerning the eyes, and the unknown short-term and long-term effects of red light exposure on the retina and brain. The script warns against the use of non-eye-specific LED devices that may not provide the correct wavelength, power density, or fluence, potentially causing damage to the retina. It also mentions that red light therapy is not yet FDA approved for any eye diseases in the US, although there is ongoing FDA trial for a device targeting macular degeneration by Lumethora. The paragraph concludes by inviting viewers to ask questions about specific diseases, devices, or wavelengths, and to provide feedback on the video content.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Red Light Therapy
💡Mitochondria
💡Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP)
💡Wavelengths
💡Nitric Oxide
💡Macular Degeneration
💡Geographic Atrophy
💡Diabetic Macular Edema
💡Dry Eye Disease
💡Chalazions
💡Myopia
Highlights
Red light therapy is being discussed for its effects on eye health and vision.
Red light therapy, also known as low-level light therapy or photobiomodulation, uses specific wavelengths of red light to treat health conditions.
It is primarily used to promote healing, reduce inflammation, and alleviate pain.
Historically, red light therapy has been used in dermatology for collagen formation, acne treatment, and hair growth.
Research shows red light therapy's potential applications in various medical fields.
Red light therapy is believed to work by activating cellular mitochondria and increasing ATP production for cellular function and repair.
Wavelengths of red light between 600 to 1000 nanometers penetrate deeper into tissues without causing heat damage.
Red light therapy also stimulates nitric oxide within cells, which is crucial for antioxidant activity and metabolism.
Research indicates red light therapy can help with retinal conditions like macular degeneration and diabetic eye issues.
Red light therapy has been approved for treating age-related macular degeneration in Europe and Latin America.
It can decrease drusen build-up, reduce geographic atrophy progression, and improve visual acuity.
Red light therapy shows promise in treating dry eye disease and improving oil gland function and eyelid blood circulation.
A study reported a 92% effective treatment rate for chalazions using red light therapy.
Research suggests red light therapy can slow down the development of myopia in children.
A meta-analysis from 2023 shows a reduction in myopia progression by 0.68 diopters with daily red light use.
The exact mechanism of how red light therapy slows myopia is still unknown, with theories involving oxygen and blood flow to the retina.
Safety concerns exist regarding the use of red light therapy on the eyes, with unknown short-term or long-term consequences.
Many red light devices on the market are not designed for eye use and may breach safety limits.
Red light therapy is not currently FDA approved for any eye diseases in the US, but trials are ongoing.
Lumethora is a company with a red light device undergoing FDA trials for macular degeneration treatment.
Transcripts
Okay, so red light therapy. That is what we're talking about today, and specifically how red
light therapy can affect our eyes, including our eye health and our vision, everything. And chances
are you've already seen plenty of products sold online for red light therapy for things like your
skin health and muscle recovery, things like that. But while yes, there is some crazy, fascinating
research on red light in the eyes that we're about to go over, there are some major safety concerns
that you need to know about, especially before you try using any of these red light therapy
devices you may have seen online. So in today's video, we're going to break down how red light
therapy works, what the research says about red light therapy in the eyes, and then finally,
safety with red light. So first, what is red light therapy, and how does it work? Red light therapy
also goes by a few other names, such as low-level light therapy, or even photobiomodulation. It is
where we use low-level wavelengths of red light to treat various health conditions. And this is
primarily used to promote healing, as well as reduce inflammation and to alleviate pain. And
historically, it's been used in dermatology for some time to promote collagen formation,
as well as treat acne and promote hair growth for people with alopecia. But it's also been shown to
help promote recovery for athletes, as well. And honestly, if you dig into the research,
there is just a ton of research coming out on this and applications in almost every area of medicine.
But in short, how red light therapies believe to work is that it activates cellular mitochondria,
which, if you remember from your high school biology class, is known as the powerhouse of the
cell. And this red light therapy can help increase the amount of adenosine triphosphate or ATP,
which is necessary for cellular function as well as repair. And what's so special about red light
is that they find that wavelengths between 600 and about a thousand nanometers of light penetrate
deeper into your tissues and get absorbed by the cells without causing too much heat,
which is important because too much heat can cause damage to the cell. And in addition to
this ATP production, there's also a coupling of nitric oxide within the cell, which plays a huge
role in antioxidant activity and metabolism. And then there's also inflammatory processes,
which are further shut down by red light. And both antioxidant activity and inflammation play
huge roles within the eye for eye health. But again, this is just sort of the shortened or
abridged version of how red light technology is supposed to work. Okay, so now that we know how
red light therapy works, what does the research say about red light and the eyes? First, I want
to say there is a ton of research on the subject that I've been digging into, so what I'm about to
share is sort of the grand overview of what these publications are showing. The first big way that
red light therapy is being shown to be helpful for the eye has to do with retinal conditions,
primarily people who have macular degeneration or diabetes. In fact, red light or low-level light
therapy has already been approved and used as a treatment for age-related macular degeneration
in both Europe and Latin America, with various publications showing that red light therapy can
decrease the size and volume of drusen within the back of the eye, which if you've never heard that
term before, drusen is sort of a protein that builds up in the back that's characteristic of
macular degeneration. It has also been shown to reduce the progression of geographic atrophy,
which is more of the severe end stage of dry macular degeneration, and red light therapy has
been shown to improve visual acuity, yes, help restore vision back for these people and help
them see further down the vision chart. And also boost color vision and contrast sensitivity. This
is huge because the research is showing that not only can we slow down a disease that often leads
to legal blindness, but we can restore eyesight and give good vision back to people, especially
considering that with macular generation, we don't really have too many other treatments
available. And if someone progresses to the very severe end stage of that disease, the only
options we have to treat it are injections with a really expensive medication inside of the eye and
nobody wants that. And then for people with diabetes, diabetes is a huge deal for eye care
because diabetes not only can lead to bleeding within the eye, but it can lead to swelling of
the retinal tissue that we call diabetic macular edema. And research is showing that red light
therapy can help treat and decrease that swelling inside of the eye, which otherwise the only
other treatment we really have for that is again similar to injections inside of the eye. So yeah,
just based off of this info alone, red light gets me really excited. And then there's the treatment
for dry eye disease, either in isolation on its own or as an adjunct therapy alongside other forms
of dry eye treatment, such as intense pulse light or IPL, for example. And the whole idea is that
red light being able that it's penetrating deeper into the tissues may be able to help stimulate the
oil glands of the eye to produce better oils, but also improve blood circulation and reduce
inflammation in those eyelids. In fact, red light therapy has even been evaluated for the treatment
of chalazions or eyelid styes that had previously not been responsive to other forms of treatment,
with one study reporting a 92% effective treatment for chalazion within just two treatments. The last
really cool area of research on red light in the eyes has to do with slowing down the development
of myopia or nearsightedness in children. With a meta-analysis from 2023 reporting a slowing
down of myopia by 0.68 diopters of glasses power within 6 months of daily use. And that translates
to a slowing down of axial length or elongation of the eyeball by about 0.35 millimeters, which is
honestly pretty exciting and fascinating because this is all done with just a desktop red light LED
that children can look at at home for three minutes, twice a day. Because myopia development
is such a huge topic in the field of eye care right now, there's a lot of eyes looking at
this research that's coming out, trying to analyze how effective it is, why it works, and is it safe.
Even more so because again it's red light being used on children's eyes. Unfortunately, we have
really no idea of how red light therapy may be in fact working to help slow down myopia. One of the
best theories out there is that perhaps there's a lack of oxygen in the back of the eye and that's
helping change the formation of collagen within the sclera and that perhaps red light is improving
the amount of oxygen and blood flow to the retina in the back of the eye and that may slow down
this whole process. But again, there's a lot of theories but we really just don't know yet. Okay,
so that's where the current research is at for red light therapy in the eyes. Now I know it didn't go
super deep into the weeds in this video about the specific wavelengths or the specific devices used
in these research studies, but I have been putting a ton of time researching this and even creating a
CE lecture course for doctors on this subject. So if you do have questions about a specific disease
state, about a specific device or wavelengths of light, anything you want to know, let me know in
the comments because I'm happy to make additional videos if people just want to learn more. The
final thing I really want to talk about in this video is safety and the current devices available
for red light therapy. First thing to understand is that this red light therapy is all still very
new science, especially for the eyes. And we don't really understand the short-term or long-term
consequences of this red light exposure. And this goes for not just the eye, but for parts of
the brain as well. And remember the retina in the eye is just an extension of your brain. And we're
a little concerned about the possible long-term consequences of what this could be doing to those
delicate nerve cells. On top of that, there are many different LED red light devices and masks on
the market, which many of, and if not all, are not designed specifically for the eyes. And there's
usually a warning on them that says don't shine directly into the eye. Chances are if even if
you do try to use one of those devices and look at it, it's probably not the right wavelength,
probably not the right power density or fluence, which is the fancy word we use for dose of light.
And there's a possible chance that that red light could cause short or long-term damage to the
retina in the back of the eye and again, I don't want anyone to hurt themselves by trying this
out. Even recently, a study looking at the light devices used in these red light myopia studies on
children found that these devices already breached the safety limit of maximal light exposure,
and currently, red light therapy is not FDA approved for the treatment of any eye diseases in
the US as of yet, but there is currently at least one red light device going through FDA trials,
specifically for the treatment of macular degeneration. And that's from a company
called Lumethora. And honestly, looking at that research, I think it looks really promising and
it's a strong likelihood that we're probably gonna see that FDA approved within the next year or so.
But again, this is all still very new in the area of eye care. Okay, so there you have it.
That is the lowdown on red light therapy for the eyes. Thank you so much for hanging around here
toward the end. Again, please let me know in the comments if there's another subject on red light
you'd like to know more about, such as maybe some of the devices currently on the market, especially
the ones used for kind of treating the skin around the eyes, whether it be for dry eyes specifically,
chalazions or styes, or even like treating eye bags, for example. There is some interesting
stuff going on in that space. But again, let me know in the comments. Thanks for hanging around.
Hit the like button for me and hopefully, we'll see you in that next video. Peace.
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