Since a number of our initial clients have come over from SciART 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 SciART 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 SciART’s infancy they began offering colored lighting for the purpose of light therapy.
During these first years of SciART, 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 SciART 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 SciART. 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
