Red Light Therapy Goggles: One Test To See If You Need Them

ByCaroline Bogart Updated on
Red Light Therapy Goggles
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Yes, it is good for the eyes. But are there any precautions to take, such as wearing red light therapy goggles? Let’s look at the evidence.

Takeaways:

  • If using a laser, wear goggles.
  • If using LEDs, wear goggles if the light is very bright. Do you need to squint? Wear goggles.
  • This advice comes directly from Dr. Andrew Huberman, an ophthalmologist and neurobiology professor at Stanford University. (Here’s his Youtube video about red light therapy.)
  • Just because red light therapy is good for the eyes does not mean it is safe to treat your own eyes.
  • Speak to an ophthalmologist before treating your eyes with light.

Red Light Therapy Goggles

What happens when you look up on a sunny day? Do your eyes narrow to protect your retinas? Do your eyes feel a bit of pain or pressure, causing you to squint?

Squinting is your natural protection against bright light. Without it, your eye’s cells would fire so rapidly that they could burn out. That leads directly to partial blindness. Whether you are using lasers or LEDs for your red light therapy, check in to see if you are squinting. If you are, wear goggles.

sunglass 600x400 6 Red Light Therapy Goggles

If you are using lasers, don’t wait to squint. Wear eye protection.

One reason red light therapy is exploding in popularity is the significant cost reduction gained when the industry switched from lasers to light-emitting diodes (LEDs). Lasers are expensive, while LEDs are more affordable. Another difference between lasers and LEDs is how they output light.

A laser outputs light in columns. This is known as “coherent” light. The columns are what allow the laser to focus lots of energy onto tiny targets. There are two ways that lasers are dangerous to the eyes. The energy beam is bright, causing the opsins (eye cells) to rapidly fire at dangerous levels. Second, lasers generate heat that easily burns human tissue.

Lasers easily and permanently blind the eyes.

Even a low-energy laser delivers light in columns that concentrate light energy. Low-energy lasers are dangerous.

a red laser beam in the dark
Red laser beam

Low Energy Light

In a study study published in Scientific Reports. researchers tested red light therapy on the eyes. They used 50 milliwatts per square centimeter (50 mW/cm2), which is dim enough to be safe around the eyes.

The subjects closed their eyes during treatment. Researchers shined the light through the eyelids. One group received a single dose of 670 red or 790 nm infrared for 3 minutes in the morning. The second group received the same therapy but in the afternoon.

The morning group had a significant improvement in their color perception. Morning therapy improved vision from 14% to 20%, with older subjects having the most gains.

The afternoon group did not improve. Somehow the morning treatment was therapeutic, but the afternoon session was not.

We can also learn about eye safety from this study.

The researchers considered 50 mW/cm2 red and infrared safe to shine through closed eyes. It does not mean that 50 mW/cm2 light is safe to shine on YOUR eyes.

Why?

Any light you buy is a consumer quality device with no guarantees of its specifications. Changes are near 100% that a light you buy from business-to-consumer vendors is neither calibrated nor properly measured. Your light might be much brighter than stated.

Consumer red light therapies are not medical devices. You should not assume they are safe to use on your eyes. Talk to your eye doctor before shining light at your eyes!!

sunglass 600x400 1 Red Light Therapy Goggles

How Eyes Use Red Light Therapy

Mitochondria make energy for our cells. The eyes are jam packed full of mitochondria because they use a tremendous amount of energy.

Eyes absorb light in the photosensitive melanopsin cells and the mitochondria. The melanopsin cells create chemical-to-electrical signals that the brain uses to create a mental picture of the light the eyes see.

Red light therapy helps dormant mitochondria come back online.

If light absorbs in the melanopsin cells, the brain uses the light to see. If it absorbs in the mitochondria, then the mitochondria use the light to create energy for the eyes.

sunglass 600x400 5 Red Light Therapy Goggles

Mitochondria decline with age, one of the reasons that eyesight declines as we get older. According to a paper published in Biochemical Pharmacology, mitochondrial dysfunction is implicated in “age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma and retinopathy of prematurity.”

sunglass 600x400 4 Red Light Therapy Goggles

Protect Your Eyes from Bright Light

“The cells in the back of the eye that convert the light information into electrical signals that the rest of the brain can understand and create visual images from, well, those cells are extremely metabolically active,” said Dr. Andrew Huberman, professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at Stanford University.

Dr. Huberman warns red light therapy users not to use devices intended for intense localized treatment.

sunglass 600x400 2 Red Light Therapy Goggles

“I don’t want people taking technologies that were designed for local application and beaming those into the eyes. That could be very, very bad and damaging to your retinal and other tissues. Certainly, wouldn’t want you taking bright light of very high intensity of any kind and getting cavalier about that. Typically, the local illumination of say a wound or a particular patch of acne or some other form of skin treatment involves very high intensity light.

Dr. Andrew Huberman

He explains that intense red light therapy panels intended for use on the skin are too bright for the eyes. Just as laser light is too intense to use without eye protection, bright panels are too bright for eye therapy.

Take This To Your Eye Doctor

If you want to emulate the red light therapy eye study, consider taking the following information to your eye doctor.

Eyesight improvement (better color blue acuity):

  • 670 nm red or 790 nm infrared
  • 50 mW/cm2 irradiance
  • 9 joules fluence
  • Three minute session
  • Perform in the morning
sunglass 600x400 7 Red Light Therapy Goggles

Get something that “isn’t painful to look at.

[A]ny time you look at any light source, sunlight or otherwise, that’s painful and makes you want to squint or close your eyes, that means it’s too bright to look at without closing your eyes.

Okay, that’s sort of a duh, but I would loathe to think that anyone would harm themselves with bright light in any way.

I don’t just say that to protect us. I say that to protect you, of course, because you are responsible for your health.

And again, retinal neurons do not regenerate. Once they are gone and dead, they do not come back. There’s no technology to replace them at this current state in time. So please don’t damage your retinas.

So is a red light source safe to look at if it is not painful to look at? Chances are it is. And yet I would still encourage you to talk to your optometrist or ophthalmologist before getting into any extensive protocols.”

— Dr. Andrew Huberman

Take this article to your ophthalmologist. Work with an expert.

Conclusion

Red light therapy helps vision and macular degeneration. A potential adverse reaction is burning out the retina. Work with your ophthalmologist before using red light therapy on your eyes.

References

Caroline helps people find comfort and relief using wellness devices. She understands how challenging chronic pain can be and so is passionate about introducing people to tools that can make a real difference.

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