Transcription
Red light therapy has been touted as the miracle cure to aging in the 21st century. I mean, people have been talking about it all over the Internet, saying it is the quantum leap that we have all been waiting for. You can see that the devices related to red light therapy are expensive, right? Getting a face mask or a full-body panel could cost you upwards of $2,000. Is that worth it? Is it really this kind of miracle medicine that everybody talks about, or is it just a fad? The truth is, it's a little bit of both. It's a complex answer, and that's what I'm going to dive into. I'm going to share my results using red light therapy for the last six months as a doctor.
Hi, my name is Monik Madan. I am a resident doctor based in the US, and I make videos about using technology to make yourself limitless. Diving into red light therapy, what is red light therapy? Red light therapy is a type of photobiomodulation, which means it's using light to change your biology. What it does is take a specific spectrum out of the whole light. If you look at sunlight, it has different kinds of light in it: there's UV light, blue light, red light, near-infrared light, and far-infrared light. Within that sun spectrum, all of these lights have a specific wavelength, and based on that specific wavelength, they can either penetrate your body or not. These wavelengths also give these lights different powers. For example, if you look at UV light, while it can cause cancer, it also stimulates vitamin D production, which is important for your body. On the other hand, blue light helps with acne, but red light, out of all of them, is probably the most beneficial light of all because it can actually penetrate your body, along with near-infrared light.
It has three mechanisms of action. The first is that when red light and near-infrared light penetrate your body, they go within your tissues and activate these organelles called mitochondria, which are the powerhouse of the cell—in other words, the battery of the cell. So when you activate the mitochondria, you're actually giving that battery a boost, allowing every cell in the body to work better. And guess what? This energy is required by each and every cell in your body, from your immune cells to your skin cells to your heart to your muscles. Every cell in your body, for each and every function, requires energy. Red light just allows every cell to get more of that energy, which leads to its beneficial effects. For example, if you look at the fibroblasts, which make collagen and elastin in your skin, red light therapy stimulates the fibroblasts and causes more collagen and elastin production, which gives you that youthful look. Not only that, if you have any hyperpigmentation on your skin or there's any kind of solar damage because of not using sunscreen, red light therapy can stimulate macrophages to erase that damage or rewrite that genetic code because it stimulates certain pathways there as well through mitochondria via this thing called retrograde signaling. So when you are activating mitochondria, they also react with the DNA to change or rewrite your epigenetic code, which helps take away the hyperpigmentation and solar damage.
The second mechanism is hormesis. Hormesis is a phenomenon that implies that whenever you're exposed to a small dose of a toxin, it causes you to get stronger. An example of a hormetic stressor is exercise. When you're exercising, you're actually producing damage in your body—these reactive oxygen species—which causes the body to produce an adaptive response to get stronger, build muscle, and ensure that you live longer. Similar hormetic stressors are saunas, oxygen deprivation, cold exposure, fasting, and other stresses that cause the body to get stronger. Initially, we used to think that aging was all tied to antioxidants, which is kind of not true because that field of research—giving people antioxidants to reverse aging—has not yielded the best results. However, what has actually given us the best results is the hormesis part of red light therapy, where it stresses out your mitochondria, causing reactive oxygen species production, which in turn causes the body to build more antioxidants within itself. This allows the body to cope with more damaging stress, including aging stress.
The third way red light therapy works is by increasing nitric oxide within your cells. When red light therapy goes inside your mitochondria, it displaces nitric oxide from an enzyme called cytochrome c oxidase. This nitric oxide then goes into your blood vessels, causing dilation within those blood vessels, which increases nutrients to your skin.
Now, remember I talked about whether red light therapy is a fad or not. It is a fad if you buy the wrong device because a lot of devices on the market claim to do many things that they just cannot. I'll clarify how that works. If you look at very cheap devices or devices where you don't see any specifications or many people haven't reviewed them, you should be very careful when they describe benefits that the device doesn't have. I would actually err on the side of more expensive devices—more reviewed, more tested devices—because you're putting your money somewhere, and you're not going to go wrong with better quality devices, which I'm going to talk about in a while.
The device that I personally use is by Illuminate LED, and this device is like a flexible LED panel. I'll go into how this works. So how do you decide on a device? Whenever you're buying a device, you should look for five criteria, which I'll talk to you about regarding my own panel that I've been using for the last six months.
The first criterion to look at is the wavelength. Each wavelength of light has different actions, as I've mentioned before, and there are certain spectrums of red light that are more beneficial for certain actions than others. For example, if you want skin benefits from red light, the 660 nanometer spectrum is the most studied, and that is what you should look for if you want clinical-grade improvement. Other spectrums can have some benefits, but 660 nanometers is the one to go for according to research. However, if you want cognitive benefits, the 1700 nanometer spectrum of near-infrared is what is required for that. If you want muscular benefits, you would require something like 830 nanometers. So different spectrums of red light work for different conditions. If you're looking just at facial red light therapy, which I'm discussing right now, I think 660 nanometers is the one to go for, and that is what my own panel has.
The second thing to look for is what is called power density. Power density is measured in milliwatts per square centimeter, so how many milliwatts of energy are being delivered per square centimeter of your skin. The more the power density, the more the penetration depth of that light. The optimal power density that we're looking for is somewhere between 30 to 100, especially if you're looking at anti-aging benefits. We want to err on the side of lower power density rather than really high power density, but we still want it to be high enough. 30 milliwatts per square centimeter seems to be the best for skin. If you go too high, the problem is you could cause heating issues and certain breakouts. Whenever you're looking at really high power densities, like 100, that's more for muscular benefits and not as much for anti-aging benefits. My panel has about 30 milliwatts per square centimeter, which is an optimal power density. It does the job; it goes deep enough into my skin, and that's what I require for anti-aging facial benefits. I don't want it to go deeper, and it's high enough to have that penetration depth, but it's not high enough to cause any kind of damage.
The third thing we're looking for in a red light therapy device is what we call the dose. The dose is basically power density multiplied by time, and that determines how much of a dose your body is getting. This is measured in joules per square centimeter. The optimal dose for anti-aging red light therapy is somewhere between 3 to 15 joules per square centimeter. If you're looking for deeper benefits, then we go higher, from 10 to 40. For this video, 3 to 15 is the optimal range. My own panel has about 5 joules per square centimeter, which is again good enough. You don't want way too high of a dose to stimulate anti-aging; 5 seems to do the job according to most research.
The fourth parameter is total dosing, which is dose multiplied by the surface area of the device. For me, that is 5 multiplied by 1,200, which is the total surface area for my Illuminate LED panel. That is about 6,000 joules, and it gives me that in about 5 minutes, which is the recommended time. Further on, looking at power density and dose also determines how much time you would need to use that light. For example, if the device is very low-powered, has a very low power density, and very low dosing, that would cause you to use it for a much longer time. If something is like 10 milliwatts per square centimeter versus a device that is 30 milliwatts per square centimeter, with the 10 milliwatts per square centimeter, you might need to use it for 30 to 60 minutes, while the 30 milliwatts per square centimeter might just need to be used for 5 minutes.
Moving on to the fifth parameter that many people don't consider: the number of LEDs. Why does the number of LEDs matter? Number one, the more LEDs there are, the higher the surface area you are covering on your face. Many panels you would have seen, like from Luux or other devices, only cover certain parts of the face and leave out areas like your ears or certain parts of your hair, which could benefit from red therapy. This is because they have a limited number of LEDs, which is around 300. My own device has about 1,800 LEDs, which is impressive. This allows for a bigger surface area and a larger treatment zone for me. Secondly, a higher number of LEDs ensures a more homogeneous and uniform power distribution on your face. If you look at a panel with 300 LEDs versus a panel with 1,800 LEDs, assuming the surface area for both devices is the same, the one with the higher number of LEDs actually ensures a more uniform effect because each LED is closer together. Thirdly, having a higher number of LEDs allows you to give less power to each LED, which extends the lifespan of that LED. In contrast, a device with only 300 or 200 LEDs requires each LED to have higher power to allow for optimal dosing, but that also causes it to lose a lot of its lifespan. Many people have reported their Luux devices not working anymore after six months of use, so you have to be very careful. The higher the number of LEDs, the more likely that device is going to last longer.
Moving on to my experience—my six-month experience with my panel. Again, I'm using the Illuminate LED panel, which is the industrial-grade standard that every device has to compete against. It's a bit expensive, of course, but I wanted the best for me, and I wanted this investment to pay off. This panel is also used in spas, and they recommend using it once a week. You could use it twice a week or three times a week; it all depends on how much you can handle. For example, some people can handle exercise for seven days a week, while others can handle it for three days a week. It also depends on whether you're a beginner or advanced. For me, I'm using it about twice a week at most, but when I was starting with it, I was using it once a week. So that has changed, and I'm only using it for 5 minutes per session, which is not a lot. This is because it delivers about 6,000 joules in just 5 minutes, and then I'm done.
So that's a great thing. If you're getting a panel, what should the dosing be? Well, it depends on the manufacturer, and please realize that you could deviate from that dosing based on your individual needs. Some people recommend a frequency of twice a day with a body panel, while others suggest twice a week. It all depends on you. A good guide to learn about this is Aron’s complete guide to red light therapy if you want to look at dosing and how to dose it for certain benefits. It also depends on how many inches you are away from the device, so a lot is taken into account. For me, as I mentioned before, I'm using it for 5 minutes at a time, twice a week.
As for my results over the last six months, the first thing I've noticed in my skin is that it's shiny; it has this glowy, glossy look to it. I've been told by multiple people, "What the hell are you doing to your skin? What's going on there?" So this is the effect of red light therapy on my face. Secondly, I've also noticed that certain areas of pigmentation, which you may have seen in my previous video, have completely disappeared. That is insane! They were basically caused by me not wearing sunscreen and were part of solar damage, and now my face is completely clear of them. I'm pretty happy with that. Thirdly, my face also feels more youthful, I guess. Fourthly, I have noticed that some of my scars have become less deep, although I would say that they haven't completely disappeared. I am looking into avenues like microneedling to treat these scars because some people report that if you have scars that can be treated with microneedling, they'll go away. So I'm going to try microneedling, but yes, it has been a bit disappointing that the scars don't go away completely. Maybe it's because it needs a more intensive invasive intervention.
Fifthly, I have noticed some cognitive benefits, like my brain fog lifting, processing speed getting faster, and my ability to learn improving. With the 660 nanometer spectrum, if you look into research, it has been correlated with higher cognitive performance compared to other light spectrums. So that is one of the benefits I accidentally found with the device. Sixthly, I will also say that my beard is denser. I have this condition called alopecia areata, which causes certain spots in my beard. There were times before I started red light therapy when there were certain spots absent in my beard, but that's gone now. You can see that my beard is much fuller and better.
Honestly, red light therapy has changed my life in so many ways, and I hope it does the same for you. If you want a device, I personally use the Illuminate LED, and I would recommend the same. It's by a company called Illuminate LED, which manufactures these panels for spas and medical facilities. Because of that, these are industry-grade, and that's why they can be expensive. The panel that I'm currently using is quite flexible and thin; I can just pack it with me, put it in my suitcase, and take it everywhere. By the way, I have tested this out—I’ve stretched it, and I have even stepped on it, and nothing bad happens to it. It's just so strong. This panel essentially has 1,200 square centimeters of surface area, which covers about my whole face, and it has 1,800 LEDs, which gives you about 6,000 joules in just 5 minutes. So yeah, it's a pretty amazing panel. If you can afford it, go ahead with it; it's an amazing one.
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