If you are reading this, you have probably decided to take control of your health and invest in Light Therapy equipment. You’ve also discovered that Google in not helpful in this regard. There is just TOO MUCH STUFF out there!
Having been through the process myself many times, I’ve put together a guide to help you in your decision making. By following this you should be able to purchase quality Light Therapy tools that will give you years of health and healing benefits.
Note – I am a Light Therapist, not a doctor. So the information below is not intended to be taken as medical advice.
A bit of background
For a long time, lasers were the only types of Light Therapy devices available. Trouble was, they were prohibitively expensive and needed trained/certified technicians to use them. And rightfully so, these things can burn or blind you! So they were an exclusive domain of elite athletes, health practitioners and the beauty industry.
But then a nice Russian researcher, called Tiina Karu, discovered that LEDs of the same therapeutic wavelengths as the lasers, had exactly the same healing affects on the body. The body apparently does not care where the light comes from. It is the colour (wavelength) that matters, as that is what gets absorbed.
LEDs of course are very very cheap and very very safe. So you no longer had to go to a salon or a health practitioner to get the benefits of Light Therapy. You could have these devices in your own home. Now everyone could afford a Light Therapy device!
On the back of this discovery, the market went crazy! It is now flooded with LED Light Therapy devices of all shapes and sizes.
With prices varying greatly for similar looking products, how are you going to decide which one to buy? Relying on social media and product reviews can be risky.
There are certainly some very good quality devices on the market. However there are also plenty of unscrupulous operators who have jumped on the Light Therapy band wagon and have no scruples in taking advantage of the sick and vulnerable people.
So, how do you avoid all that? It is actually not that difficult. The goal is to avoid devices that fail to deliver evidence-based therapeutic wavelengths (colours) and power densities (irradiance) claimed by the manufacturer/seller.
The selection process below will hopefully help in your decision making.
I will disclose up front that I am an affiliate of any product I recommend. However, I am also a Certified Light Therapist and would not recommend anything I have not used on myself, my family or my clients.
Whether you go with my recommendations or not, the information below applies to ALL Light Therapy equipment on the market.
So, let us begin!
Step 1: Decide what specifically you need Light Therapy equipment for
- Is it to address specific health issue/s for you/your family/pets/friends etc. (e..g arthritis)
- Is it for general health and energy (eg exercise recovery, improved libido)
- Is it for cosmetic/beauty/skin/hair growth applications?
- Is it for your business (as an adjunct to other services – massage, physio, chiro, beauty salon etc.)
You may have chosen more than one of the above, and that’s ok. It’s important to know what you want. The more ways you want to use it, the more versatile your chosen product will need to be. No point buying something that can only do one thing – unless of course you only want to heal/improve just the one thing.
Here are two examples where the choice of equipment might be quite different:
Example 1: A regular family with two adults, a couple of children and some pets. Every year they may all get a bout of cold/flu, some scrapes/skin infections/allergic reactions, muscle/joint issues from sports, suffer headaches etc. One of their pets might tear a ligament and need surgery. A grandparent might complain about arthritic hands or knees, and they might want to help a neighbour who has a by-pass surgery.
A lot can happen in family life during a year. They don’t have a lot of spare cash, so they don’t want to buy ten different Light Therapy devices. This family would likely benefit most from Light Therapy equipment that is versatile, portable, easy to use and can deal with a whole bunch of issues that come up during the year.
Example 2: A single, young executive, who works hard and plays hard. He is healthy, eats well, exercises and looks after himself. He’s dabbling in biohacking and wants to improve his exercise recovery and (may-be) his libido. He also has a lot of disposable cash he can spend on himself.
So this guy’s needs are very different to those of the family above. His choice of equipment is also likely to be different.
Now it’s your turn. Finish this sentence.
I want to use my Light Therapy equipment to ________________ (list everything!)
Step 2. Decide on your budget
Now that you know what you are likely to use your Light Therapy equipment for, you next need to decide on your budget.
Points to consider:
1. Reputable/quality equipment will cost more initially, but:
- will last longer and you will (usually) get the support should anything break down
- can save you thousands on medical/veterinary bills in the long term.
2. Red Light Therapy is not a cure-all. It may not solve all your health problems. You may still need medical support for your health issues. So budget accordingly.
3. The biggest, or most powerful or the most expensive device may not suit your needs (in Step 1). If all you can realistically afford is a $20 device, that is perfectly ok. As long as you are willing to work with its limitations, you will still get some benefit.
4. Ultimately, the best tool is the one you can afford and will use!
My budget is _____________
Step 3. Decide on the type of equipment
So now you have some idea of what you want and your budget. Next step is to decide on the type (or shape) of your equipment.
Light Therapy equipment comes on all shapes and sizes. I will focus on just a handful of “types” and go through advantages and disadvantages of each. Of course there are many others, but table below might help with your selection.
If you have a type of equipment in mind that is not in this table, these questions might be helpful:
- Does it need to be portable?
- Does it need to be targeted? (for a specific area of the body)
- Does it need to be polychromatic? (there are combinations of colours that are proven to be more therapeutic in certain applications, eg. Red and Blue, or Red and Infrared)
- Do you need an allocated room/space to use it?
- Does it need to be of proven therapeutic value, or are you happy to give anything a try?
The most suitable device/s to meet my needs (in Step 1 above) is/are ___________
Step 4. Find the right equipment
This is the part where we put it all together. Hopefully by now you have some idea of the type of equipment you want. The next step is to find your ideal Light Therapy system/device that will be within your budget and help you with your health goals.
When you get to the point of buying equipment you will get a lot of recommendations from social media. Once you start Googling actual products you’ll find manufacturers/sellers making all sorts of claims. So let’s examine these.
What’s in a name?
Equipment sellers will often use names like Low Level Laser device when the device is clearly made with LEDs. If you are in fact buying a Laser device for home use, never shine it near a person’s (or animal’s) face. Laser devices are expensive and typically used by trained/licensed technicians/doctors/therapists due to risk of burns and blindness. Avoid sellers who want to charge you Laser prices for LED equipment.
Does the device manufacturer/seller specify wavelengths of light/s used in the device?
This is reported in nanometers (nm) and is a bare minimum requirement. If they do not provide wavelength numbers e.g 660nm, 850nm, don’t buy. If they provide a large range e.g. 620-680nm it may mean you are not getting a quality product (if all those bulbs end up to be 620nm). You will still get some benefit, but not what you expect.
Does the device use wavelengths that have published scientific evidence for effectiveness?
Some manufacturers in their marketing blurb say that they use a lot of different wavelengths. Where Light Therapy is concerned, more is not better. Often the additional wavelengths have very little or no published evidence of therapeutic benefit to back up manufacturer’s claims.
Stick with the well-researched and proven wavelengths (660 + 25nm for red, 850nm and 1060-1080nm for Infrared). If the device uses Blue light, it is best to stick to the higher 400’s range, e.g.470nm (darker blues as opposed to light blue). Lower wavelengths (lighter blues) can potentially stray into the UV range and cause skin damage.
If the device has a number of wavelengths (colours), make sure they are in well-tested combinations of Red, Infrared and Blue.
There is currently no evidence that adding say yellow or orange to the above colours has any benefits. If you feel those colours will benefit you, use them separately until we know more.
Does the supplier/manufacturer specify the power density / irradiance of the device (or will they, if asked)?
This must be reported in mW/cm2, and is also a bare minimum requirement.
An effective Light Therapy session requires an effective dose. Just like a medication or a supplement, when you have too little, there is no effect. Conversely, if there’s too much, you get undesirable effects.
Currently the ballpark estimate for effective dosage is 3 – 100 J/cm2.
The optimal therapeutic dose will vary depending on the issue being addressed (e.g. eyes need much lower dose than knees) and on an individual’s sensitivity to light. This is where it may be useful to consult the PBM database to see what dosages have been used to address the health issues of interest to you. For example, in my practice, I aim for 50 J/cm2 per session for musculoskeletal issues (subject to individual client’s needs).
If a company reports in power density in mW/cm2 you can calculate the dose J/cm2 as follows:
mW/cm2 x recommended treatment time (in seconds) x 0.001 = J/cm2 (this is the dose for the area being lit up!)
Devices with extremely low irradiance may take hours to produce a therapeutic dose, and most people don’t want to sit around for that long. These devices probably won’t have any detrimental effects, but they will do nothing for you.
A lot of manufacturers and sellers falsify the irradiance readings to make their devices sound more powerful. The only way to get around this is to ask them how they arrived at those values (what tests did they do?). Ideally their device would have been independently tested, and they can show you a report of that test.
If they do not share the data, assume they’re either (a) a reseller that has no knowledge of what they are selling or (b) a manufacturer using very cheap LEDs, and each device they make is going to have a random power density value. This may explain why some people get great results from a device, while others with the same device have no effect. In either case, you’ll be taking a gamble.
Here is an example of two torches that look similar on the outside. Both are advertised as Red 660nm torches. The one on the left costs $10, the one on the right costs $300. Clearly the one on the left is not Red, it is orange (around 600nm). There is currently insufficient research on what the orange colour can do. But one thing for certain, it will not provide you with the therapeutic benefits you are expecting from a true and tested Red 660nm.
Here’s another deceptive tactic. Below is from a device advertised on Amazon. It looks like they are giving you test results, but a casual search will reveal that the same set of photos appear under other similar devices, with exactly the same result numbers (?!). They also don’t tell you what those hand-held gadgets are.
What kind of warranty does the seller/manufacturer offer, and what is their Returns Policy?
There are too many fly-by-night operators in the Light Therapy arena at the moment. If they don’t offer at least a 1-year warranty – don’t buy. If they don’t offer a full refund (or replacement) of equipment that does not work as advertised – don’t buy.
A cursory look through their website is often all you need to work out if they are legitimate.
Some things that should raise red flags:
- no company history,
- no technical specs (or badly scanned/fuzzy specs),
- no prices unless you give them your details,
- stock standard photos,
- nothing about founders and their background knowledge/education/experience,
- no warranty/returns policy (or one that are would not be accepted by a reasonable person)
- no support, no way of contacting a real person to speak about a problem.
To help you select the right Light Therapy tool, draw a table like the one below. As you Google your equipment type (from Step 3 above) enter the details of the devices you’ve looked at. Hopefully at least one will stand out from the rest!
Equipment Recommendations
As stated previously, I am an affiliate of any products I recommend.
Light Therapy Pad Packs (preferred)
If you want to speak to a human to help you select the right device for your needs, OR if you already own a device but are not sure how to get the most out of it, please contact me to book a short online (or phone) consultation.
Hopefully you have found this guide helpful, and now feel more equipped to make better buying decisions when it comes to Light Therapy equipment. I will keep updating this as more information “comes to light”!
Wishing you the best of health!