Archive for the 'Light Therapy – Blue' Category

GE Dichromatic Lights For Light and Color Therapy

GE Dichromatic Lamp

Don’t be misled by the low price.  GE Dichromatic flood lights are among the best lights available for many light and color therapy purposes.   They are highly recommended by, and used in the practices of many natural health practitioners, some listed below.

What makes them so good?  The special dichroic lens.  It works by letting out only the wavelengths of light you want.  All other colors are reflected back into the lamp.  No color energy is lost through the filter. These lights have an incandescent (white) source, and so the broad, natural spectrum of color is emitted.  For example, the blue light emits wavelengths of blue from around 400nm all the way to 470 and above.  This broad range is the natural expression of light and color.  GE Dichro-Color lamps produce colors that are richer and clearer and far more intense than those produced by ordinary color lamps.

I’ve sold GE Dichromatic lights with Sci\ART Global since 2000 for all kinds of light and color therapy applications including treatment for acne, rosacea, hair loss, wrinkles, colds/flu (immunity boosting), sleeplessness, anxiety and more.   I own a full set of these lights myself and I use one or more of them daily for my own light/color therapy.  One of my favorite things about these lights is the heat they throw off.  Most times of the year this is a welcome addition to light therapy here in New England.

The best place to get GE Dichromatic lights now is Bulbtronics.com. They were our supplier for many years, but they have made their stock available to the public at near wholesale pricing. At the time of this post, these lights are selling for only $24.88 plus shipping.  The suggested retain price for these lights is around $65.00 now.

GE Dichromatic Pros GE Dichromatic Cons
  • Very affordable.
  • Broad spectrum light. For example, the blue light includes all effective wavelengths from 400nm-420nm+. Red light contains all effective wavelengths from 620nm-IR.
  • Wide beam angle. Maximum coverage – minimum treatment time.
  • Fits in standard size sockets – use your own fixture
  • Incandescent light source throws soothing heat
  • Bulb gets VERY hot. This could pose a burn/fire hazard. The heat is wonderful in the winter, but can make summertime treatments uncomfortable.
  • Requires a ceramic socket, or one rated for 150watts+. Not always easy to come by.
  • Glass – fragile. No good for traveling.
  • Available in 120 volts only
GE Dichromatic Amber Amber Part Number GE150PARFLA120V
Blue GE Dichromatic Blue Part Number GE150PARFLB120V
Green GE Dichromatic Green Part Number GE150PARFLG120V
Red Ge Dichromatic Red Part Number GE150PARFLR120V

Doctor Recommended

Russell Jaffe, MD

Sara Rodgers, NMD

Issam Nemeh, MD

Dr. Michael Sabarese, DDS

Dr. Robert Corish MD

Dr. Chad Oler, N.D.

How to Use GE Dichromatic Lights for Light and Color Therapy (General Guidelines)

GE Dichromatic lights can be used in place of LEDs for most applications with the guidelines below.  For specific treatments, follow these guidelines first, then use the recommended treatment procedure for the LED product you are replacing.

1. Use a surge protector.  I know of three lights (in the last 12 years) that have exploded while in use.

2. For use longer than 5 minutes, use a ceramic socket, or one rated for 150 watts plus.

3. Do not touch the bulb after you turn it on or for 20 minutes after you turn it off.

4. Be aware of children and pets while the bulb is hot.  If you are using light therapy to help your aging parents, or the elderly, be responsible for their safety. These lights get HOT.

5. Minimum treatment distance is about two feet.  Do not use the light (any color) closer than two feet from your skin.

6. When using blue light, always wear protective eye wear. This could be tanning goggles or regular sun glasses.  Any glasses with an amber lens will block blue.

“Blue Curing Light” in Seconds Per Day.

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.)

Katelyn & Zoe Bachman on National Transplant List

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

Using Blue Light to Fight the Winter Blues

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

Cavities, Gingivitis and Periodontal Disease: Meet Blue Light

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 Shows that Humans React to Light in Much the Same Way Plants Do.

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:

Vision in animals is generally associated with light-sensitive rhodopsin pigments located in the eyes. However, animals ranging from flies to humans also possess ancient visual receptors known as cryptochromes in multiple cell types. In this work, we study the mechanism of light sensing in two representative animal cryptochromes: a light-sensitive Drosophila cryptochrome (Dmcry) and a presumed light-insensitive mammalian cryptochrome from humans (Hscry1). We expressed recombinant cryptochromes to high levels in living cells, irradiated the cells with blue light, and analyzed the proteins’ response to irradiation with electron paramagnetic resonance and fluorescence spectroscopic techniques. Photoreduction of protein-bound oxidized FAD cofactor to its radical form emerged as the primary cryptochrome photoreaction in living cells, and was correlated with a light-sensitive biological response in whole organisms. These results indicate that both Dmcry and Hscry1 are capable of undergoing similar light-driven reactions and suggest the possibility of an as-yet unknown photo-perception role for human cryptochromes in tissues exposed to light.

I don’t want to put words in the mouths of the researchers here, but basically it seems they are saying that our bodies react to light, or, as this particular study shows, blue light, though this particular research doesn’t show exactly how.  Much of light and color therapy has long worked on this assumption, deriving its basis from a mixture of anecdotal observation and clinical testing and research. We are all very interested in seeing what this type of research will yet uncover about the way our bodies interact with light.

The report can be found on PLoS’s website here.

An article discussing the high points of the study can be found at ScienceDaily.com here.

Blue Light for Treating Cancer?

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

Exploring Blue Lights in Cars to Fight Fatigue

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

From Sci\ART to Light Therapy Options; From GE to enLux

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

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