You might be thinking ‘’Is Red Light safe for my Eyes? ’ Yes! Probably it is. Red light is a safer and natural way of protecting your ocular health. This light protects your vision and has no side effects. According to a survey conducted in the United Kingdom in August, 2020,70% of the respondents believed that healthy eyes and healthy visions are critical because it improves a person’s overall quality of life, while a further 65% had the opinion that it is important because it prevents vision problems.

 Red light Therapy:

Red light therapy, non-invasive treatment for giving protection against various issues. It helps in weight loss, relieving chronic back pain and muscle pain, combating insomnia, scars, protecting ocular health and many other aches. Red light and near-infrared therapy have been found as an amazing treatment for different aches. Red light of wavelength 670 nm is not harmful and leaves no side effects.Using red light for the eyes is a secure way of protecting your vision in case of different disorders. Proceeding further we will discuss How red light can be used to improve vision? How does this help in better ocular health?

Effects of Red Light Therapy on Eyes:

Red light therapy is being used from the past few years because of its beneficial effects . This therapy doesn’t harm eyes, but it doesn’t mean staring at a bright red light for a long time. It would probably affect your eyes even if it does not harm them, eyes get irritated. Although the damage caused by infrared and UV rays and is not caused by red light, it is recommended to use it under the supervision of a doctor and not at home. Normally an exposure of 2 minutes is enough to give warmth to the eyes.

Eye Conditions that can be treated with Red light Therapy:

Red Light is a non-invasive treatment for eye defects without any side effects. Due to this quality of red light therapy nowadays, many ophthalmologists are considering it to treat eye disorders. Let’s, discuss which eye conditions can be treated with red light.

1-Reduction in Inflammation:

Age-related eye diseases due to damaging of cells in the retina. People with (AMD) age-related macular degeneration experience vision loss. As they can’t see things properly. Researchers in Bulgaria reported that the loss of vision in these people is due to AMD. These people when treated through red light showed an improved vision, as could see things a bit better than before. After this study, the researchers found that this method is very safe for curing vision disorders additionally, it was found that one of the contributors for AMD was a deficiency in a number of mitochondria. Deficiency in Mitochondria, as a result, decreases ATP production. Red Light Therapy acts as a power booster and increases the number of mitochondria. This increase induces ATP production due to which improvement in vision can be seen.

According to research on mice in the UK specialists found that NIR played a critical role in balancing low-mitochondria levels (resulting in low ATP production)for AMD. Low NIR exposure can prove to be beneficial for balancing low mitochondria levels.

2-Treatment of Retinitis Pigmentosum:

this condition is one of the most common inherited blindness. In Retinitis Pigmentosum a person loses much of his vision and sees an effect called ‘’tunnel vision’ ’It is due to mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress conditions.

For the treatment of this disorder, research was conducted in 2012, in it, rodents were exposed to red light. This showed a significant improvement in the number of mitochondria, prevention of cell death and reduction in levels of oxidative stress.

3-Treating Amblyopia with Red Light:

Amblyopia also known as ‘’lazy eye’’, is a disorder the develops during infancy or early childhood. This condition affects only one eye. After some time treating this condition becomes impossible probably after one decade of a person’s life.

A research was conducted among adolescents and adults. All of them were exposed through the red light, these showed a visible betterment in their vision.

The patients who were 18 or less showed more significant visual sharpness, but overall it was considered that this is a booster for visual sharpness.

4-Glaucoma: 

Glaucoma is a disease that damages the optic nerve. The damage in the optic nerve is also due to advancing age. Unlike, other medical disorders glaucoma also has no cure. Glaucoma is sometimes also considered similar to Diabetes mellitus.

A research was conducted in 2016 in Iran on rabbits that suggested near-infrared therapy lowers the chance of inflammation in the cornea.

In 2017, a study was conducted that proved red light can protect the cornea from damage. Red light therapy caused a reduction in corneal cell damage and increased cell growth with this glaucoma was prevented.

5-Cataracts: 

Cataracts are the cause of impaired or damaged vision. They may cause blindness. Normally, the defective lens is replaced with a synthetic one. But researches have proved that using NIR (Near-infrared Therapy) for its treatment is non-invasive and less costly.

Cataracts are treated by bleaching the defective lens with red light. Experts say that an extremely fast-pulsed laser is used to undergo this treatment.

6-Treatment of Diabetic Retinopathy:

This condition is due to low levels of glucose in the retina. Low level of glucose results in the death of retinal ganglion cells. Red light therapy helps to prevent diabetic retinopathy by reducing the death of retinal ganglion cells.

7-Leber’s Optic Neuropathy: 

This condition is known as Leber hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON). This disorder is responsible for 2% of blindness. Although, red light therapy is not seen to be directly involved in the treatment of this disorder. However, the increase in the number of mitochondria and protection of retinal ganglion cells from death is directly or indirectly related to its treatment.

Recent studies are now considering red light therapy because of its role in the increased production of mitochondria.

8-Ocular Implants: 

These ocular implants are the prostheses created on the eye during an injury or disease. In a research study, the patients treated with low laser red light therapy showed quicker recovery from ocular prostheses than those whose treatment involved only the use of drugs.

Is Using Red Light Therapy Daily safe?

 No doubt, red light therapy is a safe and non-invasive treatment. However, excessive use of everything is bad. Therefore, using red light therapy daily is not recommended. Experts recommend that taking sessions of red light therapy every other day is a convenient way to maintain ocular health.

How to use Red Light Therapy for Vision Improvement?

Researches have clearly shown that Red Light Therapy prevents retinal cell deaths, aids in the growth of new cells and recovery from injuries. Also According to experts, it succors in treating different eye disorders and sharpens visions.

Looking deeply into red light for 3 minutes, one day after another helps in the improvement of vision. However, it is recommended to visit your doctor for his therapy. As eyes are a very sensitive part of the body and even though red light is not harmful exposure for a long time leads to irritation. It is not necessary to wear glasses while getting the therapy, but people who are very sensitive to light can use googles or glasses for prevention.

Summary:

Red light therapy undoubtedly works for vision improvement. Red light aids in the growth of cells prevents the death of retinal cells and improves sharpness. However, precautions must be taken while getting treatment. If you have other concerns you must concern your ophthalmologists before proceeding your treatment. So, if you’re concerned about your ocular health, try red light therapy for it!