For your red light therapy dosage to be effective, you must use the proper dose for the outcome you’re seeking. If your dose is too weak or for too short of time, you get little to no benefit. Surprisingly, the same is true of too strong of a dose.
Red light therapy is extremely safe and simple, but since there’s no benefit to “more,” it makes sense to err on the side of caution.
5 Components to a Proper Red Light Dose
- Strength: Power density of red light device
- Size: How much body area it can cover
- Duration: Length of treatment time
- Positioning: Distance of device from the body
- Frequency: How often to treat
Red Light Power Density
Power density is measured by the wattage of the light and the wavelengths of that light. Not all wavelengths are therapeutic, so it’s important to ensure your device’s total wattage is made up of 100% therapeutic wavelengths. With some devices, that percentage can be as low as 20%-60%.
When treating deep tissue conditions, you will want a higher power density, producing a dose of 10-60J.
If you’re treating anti-aging or skin issues, a low dose of 3-15J seems to provide better results. Rather than choosing a smaller or lower-dose device, however, simply position a higher-power device further away to get the dose you need. This means you also can treat a larger area of the body at one time.
For use near eyes, genitals, a raw wound on your skin or any other sensitive area, use only low doses of 2-10J or even lower.
Red Light Device Size
An entire treatment area receives dispersed power. So a 200-watt device that is only a few inches wide may work well for your wrist but not for your shoulder, as you may be able to treat only one small section at one time. A small light focused on different areas of the body in separate treatments might be somewhat helpful if you use longer treatment time, but if it’s also a lower-power light, it won’t penetrate as deeply. You should be able to treat at least 5-10” at one time.
A larger, high-powered device will serve all your needs. As stated earlier, it works well for deep tissue. By simply increasing the distance from the body, can also provide an effective dose for superficial skin conditions. Light spreads as you move it backward, so you also get the benefit of covering more of the body at one time. Smaller high-powered devices can, similarly, treat multiple dosing needs.
This component of red light therapy dosage is tied closely to how convenient treatment is for you and whether or not you will continue to use it. Why settle for dozens of short treatments for each area when you can treat the front or back of your entire body in one 20-minute treatment?
Red Light Treatment Time & Distance
Power density is also impacted by distance from the affected area and duration of treatment time. Treatment time varies with the condition you’re treating (see below). But it is advised that you limit your total treatment dose for all areas of the body to no more than roughly 120J. That means no more than 15-20 minutes of treatment time in one session.
The highest red light therapy dosage occurs within a few inches, and by three feet away there’s little to no effect. Most experts recommend treating an area at least 6 inches away. But light will penetrate deeper through soft tissue than through your skull, so the area (and size of the area) you’re treating will require different times and distances.
Since not all devices are equal, it’s almost impossible to give specific distance recommendations, but energy specialist Ari Whitten recommends the following guidelines when using high-power density red lights:
Red Light Therapy Dosage For Skin
- 1-4 minutes from 12” away
- 1.5-5 minutes from 18” away
- 2-8 minutes from 24” away
Red Light Therapy Dosage For Deep Tissues
Whitten states that the deeper the tissue you’re trying to treat (muscles, bones, glands, organs, tendons, ligaments, etc.), the higher the overall dose you want to administer and the closer to your body you want the light to be:
- 2-7 minutes from 6” away, per area
- 5-10 minutes from 12” away, per area
[Whitten advises that the brain may require the upper limits listed here for light to penetrate through the skull.]
Red Light Treatment Frequency
Start slowly, perhaps two times a week, to see how your body responds. You can build up to as often two times per day if you’re seeing results, but optimal frequency is probably every other day.
Can You Overdose on Red Light Therapy?
The more fragile your overall condition is, the slower you should go with red light therapy to avoid fatigue. A very ill person should start below the lower limits listed above to see how you tolerate the treatment. Then slowly increase the dose over subsequent days or weeks to find the appropriate dose for you within the range outlined above. (Whitten)
Optimal doses for the skin can be reached within seconds or a few minutes with many devices, so it’s extremely easy to “over” treat. In that case, the effect is less benefit. More does not lead to better results.
Red light therapy is safe. So for even a massive red light dose, the worst you would experience is fatigue or a slight headache. An overdose should seem no worse than the results of over-exercising.
Choosing a Device
Most devices on the market are significantly underpowered. Their wattage is too low to reach therapeutic levels for large areas of the body, especially for deep tissue conditions. This means longer treatments with less benefit, and more likelihood of abandoning your device.
Choose a high-powered device for best results. We have reviewed several brands on our brand reviews page.