A team of researchers, including an Indian scientist, has found that blue curing light used to harden dental fillings may stunt tumor growth as well. Read the full article here >

For the purpose of this post, what I noticed here more-so was the treatment time: 90 seconds per day.

I think as time goes on we are going to see the treatment times for light therapy treatments decrease dramatically.  I’m thinking of blue light acne treatment, and red light for healing and anti-aging, where treatment times are commonly 15 or 20 minutes per day per area.   I think further research in those areas will show that, not only is less time required to produce a result, but that results will be better as treatment times decrease.

If you are currently using blue light therapy for things like acne treatment, try decreasing the treatment time and see how it goes.  It can’t hurt to try, and if you can save yourself some precious time, all the better.

(an exception to this would be our LightWave CS, please use as directed, the treatment time has already been adjusted to seconds per day, with good results.)

The following is an update on Katelyn & Zoe Bachman, whose lives are sustained by daily blue light treatments.

Dear Friends & Family,

We want to give you an update on Katelyn and Zoe.  For those of you who haven’t heard, we just returned from a week in Pittsburgh.  Katelyn and Zoe had their 4 day hospital evaluations and are now on the National Transplant List.  Katelyn will hopefully receive her liver transplant within 6 to 8 months.  Zoe will wait until she is 2 or 3 years old.

The Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh is the leader in liver transplants with a 98% survival rate.  Nation-wide the survival rate is 91%.  They have a wonderful team of doctors and nurses who have experience with Criggler-Najjar patients.  Since the girls are the only Texans with this condition, we have had to become experts on our own.  It was nice to be able to say the name of the condition and not have to explain it.  Over the past 6 years we have dealt with countless doctors who have never heard of this condition.  What a blessing to be in good hands and NOT be the experts!

When a liver becomes available we will only have a matter of hours to get Katelyn to Pittsburgh.  We are in the process of looking for corporations who could possibly provide a private jet when the time comes.  We were told that 95% of the time a commercial flight will not work.  We plan to have some bags already packed so that we are prepared.

After the transplant Katelyn will be in the hospital for about 2 weeks.  She will then be released to the Pittsburgh area.  She will have blood work and appointments almost daily to watch her progress.  In total, we will end up living in Pittsburgh for 2 to 3 months before coming home.

For now we are glad to be back in sunny South Texas where it’s nice and warm!  We want to thank you for your prayers and support.  We will keep you updated as we continue this process.  If you would like to see pictures of our trip you can go to www.KatelynsLight.com and click on the “Update” tab.

Love,
Jeff & Tammy

The Bachman Family

Jeff Tammy Shannon Katelyn Caleb Zoe

www.KatelynsLight.com

It appears that researchers in Utah have been studying the effect of blue light to combat Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) also known as the ‘Winter Blues’. We’ve been reading a lot lately about research into using blue light to regulate the body’s internal time clock, or its circadian rhythm, so this actually makes a lot of sense. If blue light can help keep people awake by tricking the body into thinking its still daytime, it doesn’t come as a shock that the body would respond in kind by producing the chemicals it needs to stay in balance. We look forward to seeing if this is indeed the case as research continues.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1153354/Health-news-How-blue-light-helps-SAD-eating-sausages-good-you.html

While its we’ve seen hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) in our oral hygiene products before, such as baking soda and hydrogen peroxide toothpaste, new research adds a new twist to the proven oral debrider. Often, the bacteria that need to be reached live in structures called biofilms, which serve as a physical barrier to reach them. Apparently the combination of both blue light (typically used in dental offices to set fillings) and hydrogen peroxide can penetrate deep into the biofilms and kill bacteria that have been unreachable by traditional non-invasive means.

More information can be found at http://www.asm.org/Media/index.asp?bid=59500

New research conducted by Nathalie Hoang and a team of researchers has been published in the journal of the Public Library of Science.  This study has shown that photoreceptors called cryptochromes in humans respond to blue light in much the same way that cryptochromes in plants do. While many of our cryptochromes are found in the retina of the eye, they can also be found in other tissues found near the surface of our bodies. The implication is that they must have a purpose in absorbing and responding to light, but exactly what their functions are is currently unknown.  Preliminary findings suggest that these sensors may regulate our sleep cycle, also called our circadian rhythm.

The Author sums up the findings of her paper with these words:

Mr. Patel, MCG School of Dentistry Junior, Dr. Jill Lewis, associate professor of oral biology, Dr. Regina Messer, associate professor of oral rehabilitation and oral biology, and Dr. John Wataha, adjunct professor of oral rehabilitation and oral biology, have recently concluded early studies pointing to the possible use of Blue Light to help treat cancer.

Apparently, the study used 10 mice with tumors. 5 of the mice went untreated while the other 5 received doses of the blue light for 90 seconds a day for 12 days. At the end of the 12 days, the tumors were removed for study. Of the 10, the 5 that had received treatments showed a 10% increase of apoptosis (cell suicide) in the tumor cells, but not in healthy cells.

Early hopes are that in time blue light therapy can lighten the amount of current treatment methods needed, such as chemotherapy, to reduce the discomfort and affect to the patient’s health.

The blue lights used are reported to be those common to dental procedures that use blue light to harden tooth fillings. While the wavelength was not disclosed in this article, standard wavelengths for this procedure run between 430 – 470 nanometers.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-06/mcog-blu062408.php

Car manufacturers have started to explore the use of blue light in their cars to fight fatigue. Blue light most closely mimics full daylight, and is used successfully to reset body ‘clocks’.  It is hoped that this same concept can be integrated into automotive technology to stimulate tired drivers.

More information about how blue light affects a person’s circadian rhythms and how automotive manufacturers are hoping to use it can be found here:

http://www.topnews.in/wake-me-you-go-go-new-interior-lights-could-beat-fatigue-246729

Since a number of our initial clients have come over from Sci\ART Global, LLC, this seems like an appropriate first post.

If you’re wondering why this business exists and where it all started, you’ve got to know just a little about my wife, Louanna, the heart and soul of Light Therapy Options.  Since 2000, she has been working with her mother, Kathryn Kalisz, starting Sci\ART and helping it grow.  More than that, however, Louanna grew up Kathryn’s daughter, and from those early years, she’s learned her mother’s passions.

See, Kathryn is a world class color expert. She’s one of only a handful of people who can complete the Munsell color test by eye, with 100% accuracy. Much of the work that Kathryn and other members of the Munsell team did contributed directly to the color-matching systems and software used today.  Ever get your paint matched by computer at the local hardware store? Then you know what I’m talking about.  Anyway, Kathryn has spent the better part of her life exploring color and its physical and mental effects on the human being.  A natural outgrowth of color was light, and within the first year of Sci\ART’s infancy they began offering colored lighting for the purpose of light therapy.

During these first years of Sci\ART, they came across the news that 415 nanometer blue light kills acne.  After more research, they chose to include acne treatment as a benefit of the GE Dichromatic blue flood lamps.  Since the GE lamps were broad spectrum, they certainly included 415 nm blue light, and based on the rate of returns, it appeared that the GE bulbs experienced the same (or even a bit better) rate of success than the reported 85% that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved systems encountered.

While the BLUE LIGHT TREATMENT PROCESS is approved by the FDA, it should be noted that at the time of this writing, with the exception of the Clear Light, Blue-U and Omnilux solutions, currently sold only to medical professionals, only a select few home solutions that we are aware of are FDA approved.  For most of us, we’re simply offering an alternative that may or may not work for you, using the same types of tools that the FDA approved system uses, but in the comfort of your own home and for a fraction of the cost of paying for weekly doctor visits.  Please, DO NOT BE FOOLED by vendors who claim their system is FDA approved.  Thoroughly check it out first.

As we said, the GE lights were obviously not ideal.  At 150W, they were hot, they used a LOT of energy, and they required a light fixture rated for a 150W light bulb.  Worst of all,  many felt that a lot of the energy was wasted on producing light that wasn’t 415 nm.  While we don’t think it was wasted, that really is the subject of a future post.

Because the GE lamps just weren’t optimal, Louanna began looking for a way to get hold of 415 nm bulbs.  She specifically wanted LEDs if she should could get them, since they were cool, used far less energy, and the lights would be more durable and last a lot longer.  At first, she looked to see if there was anything they could buy off the shelf, but there just wasn’t anything.  Next, she began looking to have them manufactured specifically for us.  It was at this point that she came across enLux Lighting.  Of all the LED manufacturers she found, she felt most impressed by them and a relationship was started.  Our first 415nm enLux lamps shipped in March of 2007.

In the summer of 2007, Kathryn decided to return to Florida and the bulk of the day-to-day operations of Sci\ART went with her.  Kathryn also decided to refocus her business on color therapy and several light therapies took at back seat.  Included in these was the Acne 415 business.  However, Louanna felt that the acne light therapy business had grown to the point of needing it’s own website, sales & fulfillment, and so in the fall she struck a deal with her mom and bought the Blue Light acne business from Sci\ART. A month later, Light Therapy Options was born, and its first endeavor, IntelligentAcneTreatment.com launched.

Since then we’ve continued to move forward. We’ve talked to our customers freely and openly, and in return, they’ve talked to us.  We’re learning from each other as we move forward, listening to the successes of others, all of the various ways that they’ve used their lights, and are passing that information forward to you.  We welcome you to keep checking this site and this blog, whether you’ve purchased our lights or someone else’s, so that we can all continue learning together.

- Chris & Louanna