Red light therapy claims to heal wounds, improve pain and reduce wrinkles. But the evidence for it working is dim

While red lights are seeing a massive renewed surge in popularity, they’ve been around for quite some time, writes Dr Gideon Meyerowitz-Katz Composite: Getty Images

The world of wellness is constantly expanding. There are new fads coming out almost every week, from the weird new mushroom powders that are suddenly essential for everyone’s health to the newest diet that is supposed to shave kilograms off your figure. It’s a quagmire of unproven, disproven and almost certainly ineffective things that grows every day.

But one mainstay is red light therapy. While red lights are seeing a massive renewed surge in popularity – it’s hard to go on TikTok or Instagram without being assaulted by at least one very confusing video of a person wearing what appears to be a horror mask shining red light on their face – they’ve been around for quite some time. You can find people discussing red light and its possible benefits all the way back to the 1990s.