What is the best dose

Too high or too low dose will lead to an ineffective treatment.

Dr. Hamblin uses the following analogy, “you can cook a turkey at 350 degrees (Fahrenheit) for a couple hours or you could cook a turkey at 10,000 degrees for a couple seconds. Both deliver the same energy. If you cook a turkey at 10,000 degrees for one minute, you won’t like the results. The same is true with PBM. More intensity isn’t better”. The important point is getting the same number of photos over a longer time is better than shoving them all into your body at once.

8 to 9 Joules is the recommended dose for most applications. For the relief of deeper symptoms, like joint inflammation, up to 120 Joules?cm2 has been shown to be very effective.

See our products pages to see at what distance from the light one should stand and for how long in order to get the recommended dose.

Distance of the light source is crucially important here, as it determines the light power density hitting the skin. For example, using Red Light Device at 25cm instead of 10cm would increase the application time required but cover a larger area of skin. There is nothing wrong with using it from further away, just be sure to compensate by increasing application time.

Dr. Michael Hamblin from Harvard University claims in a 2008 paper that in general under 100mW/cm2 is best for Low Level Light Therapy (LLLT).

LLLT has a duel response curve. Meaning if the intensity and light delivered is too high, a negative effect will occur. If it’s too low, no effect will occur. This is called the Biphasic response.