Red light and Eye health – do you need to be concerned?
The simplest answer and the answer for 99% of us is no.
In fact, the opposite is true – red light could actually be beneficial to eye health.
The simplest answer and the answer for 99% of us is no. In fact, the opposite is true – red light could actually be beneficial to eye health.
Recently, I was speaking with an old friend who had been to the ophthalmologist and told that her eye health was deteriorating quicker than he would like. It is a pretty scary thing to hear at any age, let alone below 40.
Having already researched this for someone else I was quick to offer the benefits of red light and the benefits of blocking excess blue light.
Research has shown that for cases concerning macular degeneration (AMD) near infrared light (the light that is common in all but one of the units available on lighttherapy.no can actually halt, or even heal some aspects of eye damage (1)
A brilliant review tried to shed some light (no pun intended) on just how red and NIR help the eye and whether red light could be seen as a future treatment for eye health
“The literature supports the conclusion that the low-cost and non-invasive nature of PBM, coupled with the first promising clinical reports and the numerous preclinical-studies in animal models, make PBM well-poised to become an important player in the treatment of a wide range of retinal disorders.” (2)
The paper goes on to demonstrate the anti-inflammatory benefits of the red light (670nm) in reducing and preventing forth coming eye damage. This by itself could be beneficial for those that have pre-conditions that leave them susceptible to eye health problems
The benefits don’t stop there – retinal damage due to diabetes can also be positively impacted by red light therapy by significantly reducing the oxidative stress in the eye.
Just one further example of the benefits of red and near infrared light showed that in patients with cataracts: “The primary outcome VA improved in 97% of the treated patients”…… that’s right 97% of patients showed improvements in their visual acuity.
Both red and NIR (as seen here) can be beneficial in eye health
To accompany those studies, perhaps the second most astonishing outcome was this sentence, listed again and again “with no adverse effects”(3).
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Time and again red and NIR light has show tremendous positives with no adverse effects!
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So, next time you think “is red light bad for my eyes” – there is your answer.
Relax, have your red/NIR therapy and soak up just one more benefit to this amazing therapy.
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References