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Randomized trial · measured the question itself

Trial in 136 volunteers: red light gave smoother skin and more collagen than controls

Wunsch and colleagues · Photomedicine and laser surgery · 2014

Original title: A controlled trial to determine the efficacy of red and near-infrared light treatment in patient satisfaction, reduction of fine lines, wrinkles, skin roughness, and intradermal collagen density increase.

Under review. A person has not yet checked this summary against the paper. It is written from the PubMed abstract. Until a person checks it, search engines are asked not to list this page.

What the study found

Points to benefit

Treated groups had better skin complexion, less skin roughness on profilometry, and higher collagen density on ultrasound than controls. Blinded photo ratings agreed. Broad light was no better than red light alone.

The study at a glance

Type of study
Randomized trial
Who or what was studied
136 people · 136 volunteers, 113 treated and 23 untreated controls
What was tested
Red (611-650 nm) or red-to-near-infrared (570-850 nm) broad light, twice a week for 30 sessions, vs 23 controls; the abstract does not say what controls received
What it measured
The question itself: wrinkles and skin aging
How long
15 weeks
Who has a stake
No disclosure in PubMed
No disclosure in PubMed.
Journal
Photomedicine and laser surgery, 2014
Source
PubMed record 24286286. This page is based on the abstract only.

How much this study counts

  • ✓Randomized: people were put into groups by chance, so the groups start out alike.
  • •Medium size: 136 people.
  • •Lasted 15 weeks.
  • ✓Measured the question itself: wrinkles and skin aging.
  • •The PubMed record has no conflict-of-interest statement.
  • •Summarized from the PubMed abstract only. The full paper may hold details the abstract leaves out.

✓ Strength– Limit• Note

These points come from fixed rules about the type of study, its size and length, what it measured, and who has a stake. Every study on Digestery gets the same rules.

Where this study sits

Each dot is one on-topic paper on this question. Steps near the top answer the question more directly.

↑ Stronger evidence

  1. Trials in people: wrinkles and skin aging

    6

    5 benefit, 1 mixed

    ↑ This study is the ringed dot

  2. Trials in people: other measures

    0

    None among the papers we read.

  3. Trials in people: lab tests or safety

    0

    None among the papers we read.

  4. Population studies

    0

    None among the papers we read.

  5. Blood levels and genes

    0

    None among the papers we read.

↓ Weaker evidence

  • Points to benefit
  • Mixed
  • No difference
  • No direction
  • Points to harm

How it fits with the other research

The short answer to “Does red light therapy work for skin?”

Maybe a little; trials are small.

Confidence: low. Based on 7 on-topic papers.

Read the full answer

Of the other 5 papers on the same step: 4 benefit, 1 mixed. This one found benefit. It agrees with most of them.

Other papers on the same step

See all 7 studies on this question

How this page was made

Label

First read of the abstract
Claude Sonnet
Independent second read
Claude Haiku
Differences settled
The reviewer corrected 3 fields after reading the abstract. Claude Opus 5.5.
Headline
Claude Sonnet, from the checked study record. A script checked its numbers and wording.
Numbers
Checked against the abstract by a script
“How much this study counts”
Fixed rules, the same for every study
Source check by a person
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