By Len Saputo, MD,
and Jerry Stine, NC

Introduction

A new era of medicine has emerged, using light to heal health conditions that have previously been essentially untreatable. The purpose of this article is to share the success we’ve had in treating patients with Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, stroke, traumatic brain injuries (TBI), and multiple sclerosis (MS) using a new form of photobiomodulation (PBM) device developed and refined over the past two decades.  

We doubt that anyone would have been more surprised than we were at the improvements we often witnessed in just one single, fifteen-minute treatment with this novel combination of infrared, red, and blue light of many frequencies. The improvements we observed were not only unexpected but also nearly beyond belief.

The Context Within Medicine

To date, approximately 1,350 clinical trials have been conducted on light therapy for a broad range of disorders. A large number of studies on dementia, TBI, MS, and Parkinson’s have shown excellent effectiveness.^2-8 Most of this research involved the use of infrared or near infrared light. Single-spectrum light devices are utilized by providers in a range of intensities and spectra (chiefly infrared, or red such as cold lasers or LED units used by providers such as chiropractors). Consumers have access to devices of lower power that employ near infrared light.

PBM devices are FDA approved for relief of muscle and joint pain, relief of minor neck and shoulder pain, relief of pain from arthritis, to encourage collagen growth, hair growth, and improvement of skin quality and appearance.

Safety

Treatment with light has been approved by the FDA for its safety. When used as directed, there are no significant safety issues. A review of many research articles showed some short-term discomfort from treatment, such as headaches, upset stomach, or short-term sleep issues; but the literature is remarkable free of any reports of damage or patient complaints. The major concern in maintaining safety is to make certain that the skin is not burned. The greater the intensity of light and the longer it is applied, the greater possibility for burning the skin. In people who have numbness, as is the case with neuropathies, it is especially important to start with low doses of infrared light alone.

How PBM Works

Extensive research has shown that photons have the effects listed below on the pathophysiology of the dysfunctional neurons of Alzheimer’s disease and very likely in other dementias. This summary was published by a noted researcher in the field of photobiomodulation, Michael Hamblin, PhD, of Harvard Medical School, in the journal, Photonics⁷:

• Increases blood flow by releasing endothelial nitric oxide,
• Increases ATP production by injured cells,
• Neuroprotective,
• Decreases oxidative stress,
• Reduces inflammation,
• Attracts activated stem cells,
• Increases lymphatic drainage,
• Increases neurogenesis,
• Increases synaptogenesis,
• Stimulates gamma rhythms,
• Improves cell membrane potential.

It is easy to see how PBM’s ability to stimulate all these essential cellular healing mechanisms can help to restore function to diseased or damaged cells. These are the mechanisms of action that have made effective treatment with light possible in the following neurological conditions⁹:

• Degenerative diseases: Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and multiple sclerosis,
• Traumatic events: stroke and traumatic brain injuries,
• Psychiatric disorders: depression, anxiety, and PTSD.

In the case of Alzheimer’s disease, it has been shown that when even low levels of infrared light are applied to a tissue culture of mice neurons with Alzheimer’s disease, the classic pathological neurofibrillary tangles of the tau protein and beta-amyloid plaques begin to resolve within hours to days, as demonstrated in Figure 1.

Advanced PBM Device

All case histories listed below utilized a relatively new type of PBM system, the Firefly, produced by Bales Photonics. The Firefly PBM employs multispectral light frequencies (red, infrared, and blue) and features more power than previous devices.

Alzheimer’s Disease

A colleague and I (Len Saputo, MD) were demonstrating the effects of PBM in a healing center in 2018. We were testing the first multispectral Firefly device my colleague had designed on a 91-year-old man who had advanced Alzheimer’s disease. On our first evaluation, this gentleman presented with a shuffled gait, was hunched over, and could not answer most simple questions. The treatment took about 15 minutes.

This demonstration was observed by several people, including this man’s wife. The results were mindboggling! Immediately afterward, the patient looked up and started telling us about his younger days when he was an electrical engineer. He then started walking with a normal gait and said he felt like dancing! It was as if we had somehow turned on a switch that allowed his brain to begin functioning again. We have followed the man over the past three years, during which he has been treating himself daily with a home light unit, and he has remained alert, coherent, and oriented.

Since that time, I have treated 25 patients with Alzheimer’s disease using this device in my medical practice. About 80% have had an immediate response that was clear to the patient, to their companying family member, and to us. In general, these improvements continued with additional treatments of 10-15 minutes daily. None of the subsequent patients have had the complete response we observed with our first patient, but the improvements have made a significant difference in their quality of life.

Multiple Sclerosis

Another of our initial patients using the Firefly was a 20-year-old cheerleader who had been diagnosed with MS two years earlier. She was no longer able to cheerlead because her balance had been compromised. She was unable to walk, putting one foot in front of the other, without staggering and nearly falling. We used a protocol we designed for MS for fifteen minutes.

When we tested her balance immediately afterward, she was able to walk normally. In fact, she was able to stand for 30 seconds on one leg with her other leg raised behind her and both arms outstretched. She purchased a home unit and to our knowledge continues to do well.

Parkinson’s Disease

D.S. is a 76-year-old female with an 18-year history of moderately severe Parkinson’s disease. The first time I saw her on December 21, 2019, she was sitting in a chair in my waiting room. I invited her to follow me to my office and observed she could barely get up from the chair. As she began walking, she had trouble getting started but once she did, she could walk but had obvious difficulty maintaining her balance. I was relieved when she didn’t fall. At that time, she was taking Stelara, carbidopa, amantidine, Requip, Wellbutrin, and thyroid hormone, and mentioned it was about time to take her medications. I asked her to hold off so we could see if the light treatment she was about to get would have an effect without the interference of her medications.

I treated her with our protocol for Parkinson’s disease using our new technology for about 15 minutes. To the shock of her husband, my staff, and patients in the waiting room who had seen her struggle to get out of her chair and then struggle to walk, she bolted out of her chair and began walking with very noticeably greater coordination and balance. She also commented that the mental fog she was accustomed to had cleared, her tremor had also decreased, and she had more confidence walking.

She purchased a machine for home use and has been using it daily. She has sustained the improvements she experienced and has noted that she has been able to function with less medication.

Traumatic Brain Injury Testimonial

Ken Avery, former linebacker for New York Giants, Cincinnati Bengals, and Kansas City Chiefs: “I have been using the home light unit for over a year, integrating the therapy into my morning exercise routine, and using it again in the afternoon. The biggest improvement I have seen is in my sleep. I used to awake 10 or more times per night, required a CPAP machine, and had to take naps in the afternoon. After using the light device for a couple of months I only awake occasionally at night, no longer require the CPAP, and don’t need to take an afternoon nap! My tremors have also improved significantly which allows me to operate a variety of power saws with confidence I won’t cut myself. My driving has even improved as I don’t have the shoulder pain I once did. Finally, I am confident the light device is slowing the progression of my diagnosis. I would recommend anyone with neurological disease to try this light device for improvements to their quality of life.”

Stroke

R.M. is a 70-year-old female acupuncturist who had a right middle cerebral artery thrombosis 24 years prior to her first visit to my office on June 2, 2020. She presented with a left hemiparesis and a moderately severe expressive aphasia. She was unable to speak more than a few words without having to stop and struggled to complete most of her sentences. Frequently, she would become so frustrated that she would stop trying and would start over again. She was able to walk but limped because of the persisting hemiparesis on her left side.

She was treated on the right side of her head with light for 15 minutes using the Firefly device. Immediately after her first treatment her speech became considerably more fluent. Over the next two days we continued treatments, and she was able to complete some sentences. She continued with two-to-three treatments per month through May of 2021. Her speech has continued to improve and is now near normal. She also noted that her left-sided weakness and unstable gait have continued to improve.

What These Case Studies Have in Common

Over the past decade there have been many clinical trials that have shown that PBM can improve the health and functionality of patients with dementia. What we have discovered using our new technology is that it is possible to get faster and more impressive results. Yet, we must emphasize that our limited observations are anecdotal and need to be validated by formal scientific clinical trials.

Nonetheless, because the conditions we’ve treated have had such impressively positive outcomes and because there are essentially no other treatments for these often very incapacitating disorders, we believe patients should be offered PBM after fully informed consent for treatment because PBM offers the possibility of improving quality of life that is safe and affordable. 

Multi-Spectrum, Higher Output PBM Devices

The impressive results in these case histories all occurred using the newest multi-spectrum, higher output device by Bales Photonics. This unit also has the capacity to modulate the light with a range of frequencies to increase effect. We have been utilizing infrared-only light devices as a major therapeutic modality for more than two decades before this newer unit became available. While we have been impressed with the results from the earlier devices, the results from the new unit were astounding. Why the increased power and multi-spectrum technology has such a powerful effect is not fully understood and calls for further investigation. There is one formal study on dementia using the Firefly by Bales Photonics. (See Sidebar.)

Physiology

In addition to biochemistry, the language of medicine is expanding to include biophysics. There is an ever-growing database of medical scientific literature documenting the effects of biophotons (photons with biological effects) in regulating how the biochemistry of the body influences physiology to promote healing. It is a language that provides a new and deeper level of understanding of how human physiology works to create healing.

The effects of power, wavelengths, and frequencies. Photon energy and the depth of penetration are wavelength dependent. While shorter wavelengths, like blue light, have more energy than red or infrared light, they penetrate less deeply in human tissue. Different wavelengths of light have different depths of penetration into the underlying tissues. Blue light only penetrates 2-3 mm and delivers its heat into a very small area. Red light penetrates 2-3 cm, and infrared penetrates up to 23 cm. The greater the depth of exposure, the lower the density of heat that is delivered to the body. Therefore, blue light heats the skin much faster than red or infrared light. It appears that different wavelengths energize different types of tissues. By running three light wavelengths at once, different tissue depths and tissue types are treated simultaneously.  

We have observed the return of function in patients treated with multi-spectrum light and theorized that the shorter wavelengths can affect deeper tissues though neural communication between nerve receptor endings in the surface of the skin and their connections to neurons deep in the body, and possibly even in the brain.

The research on basic cellular responses to photon energy in studies by Hamlin and others suggests increased cell membrane potentials and increased neuronal energy. The visible result of clinical intervention is evidence of improved nerve function in patient symptoms. Wavelength absorption is tissue dependent. For example, blue light can illuminate living teeth in the mouth, which will fluoresce in a different color, while red and infrared will not cause the same effect.

While photon intensity determines depth of penetration, water will block or attenuate some wavelengths of light. Because the body is composed of 70% water, this is an important consideration. The bones of the skull also attenuate the strength of the light, making it harder to reach brain tissue directly. A higher output device helps to compensate for this limitation.

Regarding frequencies and frequency modulation of light, our current hypothesis is that the human body has frequency dependent effects at the quantum level. When a patient experiences dysfunction, some frequencies can be attenuated or can be missing. Restoration of these frequencies may help restore function. More research is needed to test this hypothesis.

Adjunct Therapies and Clinical Integration

PBM as Additive to Other Therapies. Some practitioners have found the relief and benefit to their patients so impressive that PBM becomes the “cornerstone” therapy in their practices. For other practitioners, PBM offers an additive effect to the therapies they are currently using.

Physical Medicine. PBM strongly supports therapies that are physical in nature such as chiropractic, osteopathic, physical therapy, and body work practitioners. The ability of PBM to very rapidly reduce inflammation, mitigate pain, bring muscle relaxation, and promote tissue healing brings a high level of patient satisfaction. 

Functional Medicine. The arena of functional medicine is bringing increasingly sophisticated nutritional and lifestyle therapies to neurological problems such as the work of Dale Bredesen, MD, on Alzheimer’s and other dementias. These types of protocols would be well supported by PBM’s beneficial effects on inflammation, oxidative stress, mitochondrial function, and tissue healing.   

It Is Time for Light Therapy to Become Mainstream

At this time, there has been so much research showing good and consistently reliable results for a wide range of health conditions that a tipping point has been reached, which justifies bringing this light therapy forward into mainstream medicine. Light therapy is safe, affordable, and available. Photobiomodulation (PBM) is particularly important because it promises to provide treatment for a wide range of dementias that have previously been essentially untreatable.

References

1. Giuliani A, et al. Low infra red laser light irradiation on cultured neural cells: effects on mitochondria and cell viability after oxidative stress. BMC Complement Altern Med. 2009; 9: 8.
2. Dompe C, et al. Photobiomodulation—Underlying Mechanism and Clinical Applications. J. Clin. Med. 2020; 9(6): 1724.
3. Song Chuan Foo A, et al. Mitochondrial Dysfunction and Parkinson’s Disease—Near-Infrared Photobiomodulation as a Potential Therapeutic Strategy. Front Aging Neurosci. 2020 Apr 3;12:89.
4. Salehpoura F, et al. Brain Photobiomodulation Therapy: A Narrative Review. Mol Neurobiol. 2018 Aug;55(8):6601-6636.
5. Hamblin MR. Photobiomodulation for Traumatic Brain Injury and Stroke, Neurosci Res. 2018 Apr;96(4):731-743.
6. Silva T, et al. Effects of photobiomodulation oninterleukin-10 and nitrites in individuals with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis – Randomized clinical trial. PLoS ONE 15(4):e0230551.
7. Hamblin MR. Photobiomodulation for Alzheimer Disease: Has the Light Dawned? Photonics. 2019 Sep;6(3):77.
8. Sinclair KL, et al. Randomized controlled trial of light therapy for fatigue following traumatic brain injury. Neurorehabil Neural Repair. 2014 May;28(4):303-13.
9. Hamblin MR. Shining light on the head: Photobiomodulation for brain disorders. BBA Clin. 2016 Dec;6:113-124.
   

Multi-Spectrum Light for Dementia.

In an initial pilot study involving nine patients and using the multi-spectrum, higher powered Firefly device, subjects received 10 treatments over the course of four weeks with a minimum of two treatments per week. PBM therapy was applied for 10 minutes over each patient’s cranium.

The Mini-Cog exam (scores range from 0-5) was administered before the first treatment, one week after the tenth, final treatment (post-trial), and after a further one-month washout period. Nine subjects completed the pilot study.

The average Mini-Cog score improved by 7% from the pre-trial to the post-trial exams. The scores improved another 26% from the post-trial exam to the post washout period exam. This indicates that improvement continued even without treatment. The overall average Mini-Cog score improved by 35%. 

Syed S, Bales M.  info@balesphotonics.com

Len Saputo, MD, a graduate of Duke University Medical School, is founder and director of the Health Medicine Center, Walnut Creek, California. Dr. Saputo has been doing functional medicine with a special emphasis on light therapy for 20 plus years.  He can be reached at 925 253-9790 or healthmedicine@comcast.net

Jerry Stine is a nutritional consultant, longevity coach, and the director of the Lifespan Institute for Functional and Anti-aging Nutrition. The Lifespan Institute was founded in 1987 to develop advanced life-extension and performance enhancing programs. For the past 25 years, Jerry has been an independent nutritional counselor with an active private practice and has served as a consultant for several respected vitamin manufacturers. He can be reached at 707-421-2143 or lifespan2@comcast.net or www.LifespanInstitute.net