Red Light Therapy for Bacterial Infection: Scientific Evidence

This 2021 observational study followed a 52-year-old woman with type 2 diabetes and a fasting blood sugar of 303 mg/dL, whose neck tissue had been destroyed by a bacterial infection spreading from a dental source. After antibiotics, a surgical opening of the neck and drainage of the abscess, she received photobiomodulation (PBM) across 10 sessions, given 2 times per week over 35 days to the left side of the neck. According to the report, new healing tissue formed, the dead areas cleared, the wound edges drew together, and the wound closed completely.

Among 95 children aged 1 to 15 with a long-standing bone infection spread through the bloodstream, a 2015 observational study tested infrared laser light on its own and alongside fluctuation magnetic therapy, a treatment using varying magnetic fields. The light was applied through the skin over the affected bone, with the 2 approaches given at different stages of the illness. The study found that during flare-ups, the light on its own reduced signs of inflammation and stimulated the immune system, while the combined treatment during quieter periods improved blood flow in the smallest vessels and supported tissue repair.

Deaths fell from 15.3% to 5.3% among patients treated for a bacterial abscess left in the abdomen after surgery, in a 1993 clinical trial of helium-neon (HeNe) laser therapy. 116 patients were studied, 59 of whom received red light at 632.8 nm delivered inside the abscess cavity alongside active drainage, while the other 57 were treated without it. Average treatment time also appeared shorter with the laser, at 28.8 days against 37.1 days. Delivering light inside the cavity was associated with faster tissue repair.