Our Science

How light therapy actually works

No mysticism, no miracle claims. Just what the research says about light and living tissue — and what it doesn't.

Light is energy. Tissue absorbs it.

The field is called photobiomodulation, and it has been studied for more than five decades across dermatology, sports medicine and dentistry.

The short version: certain wavelengths of light pass through the surface of tissue and are absorbed by structures inside your cells — particularly in the mitochondria, the parts of the cell that produce energy. That absorption appears to influence how efficiently those cells do their work.

What matters for you is narrower than the science as a whole. Different wavelengths behave differently. They penetrate to different depths and are absorbed by different structures. This is why the wavelength number on a device is the single most important specification — and why "LED light" on its own tells you nothing.

The three wavelengths in your device

630 nm — Visible red

Sits in the most-studied band of red light. It is absorbed close to the surface, within the first few millimetres of soft tissue, which makes it well suited to gum margins and the inside of the cheek. This is the light you'll see glowing during a session.

850 nm — Near-infrared

Invisible to the human eye, so the device may look dimmer than it is — this is normal and does not mean it has stopped. Near-infrared reaches deeper than visible red, which is why serious devices pair the two rather than using red alone.

480 nm — A different job entirely

Blue light is not part of the red and near-infrared story. It has its own documented effect on certain bacteria, and it's also the wavelength used to activate whitening gels. Section 05 covers it in full.