Red Light Therapy for Tuberculosis: Scientific Evidence

Pain scores fell from 8 to 0 on a 0-to-10 scale after 4 sessions in a 2025 observational study of photobiomodulation (PBM) for tuberculosis affecting the breast. A 45-year-old patient in Brazil, whose sores had not healed after 3 months of antibiotics and pain medicine, received red and near-infrared light at 660 and 808 nm, at 100 mW, 3333 mW/cm², and 20 J per session, across 12 sessions over 38 days. The patient stopped taking pain medicine once the pain resolved, and the sores had closed completely by the end of the 12 sessions, the researchers reported. As a single case, the result cannot show how well the approach works more broadly.

Comparing a near-infrared laser against a sham device, both added to standard tuberculosis drug treatment, a 2003 randomized controlled trial in India tested how quickly the bacteria that cause tuberculosis cleared. 130 patients newly diagnosed with tuberculosis in the lungs were randomly assigned to the 2 groups, receiving either low-level laser therapy (LLLT) from a gallium arsenide laser at 890 nm aimed over the lungs or sham irradiation, and 70 completed treatment and were available for analysis. According to the trial, the bacteria cleared from the coughed-up phlegm faster in the LLLT group than in the sham group, with the difference reaching statistical significance from 60 days onward but not at 45 days. Faster clearance could help prevent drug-resistant strains from developing, though the evidence was described as preliminary.

38 patients with tuberculosis in the lungs took part in a 1993 observational study testing whether an infrared laser changed how strongly their immune systems responded. A gallium arsenide laser delivered near-infrared light over the lungs, alongside standard tuberculosis drug treatment. Adding the laser appeared to stimulate the immune system and was associated with a more favorable course and outcome of the disease. The strongest effect appeared when the laser was applied twice.