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The Health Benefits of Light Therapy
Light therapy is a medical treatment in which artificial or natural light is used to treat a medical condition.
Light therapy involves halogen lights, fluorescent light bulbs, light-emitting diodes, or sunlight.
Light therapy is also known as heliotherapy or phototherapy. The type of light therapy and how the light is used will depend on the patient’s health condition.
In this article, we’ll get to know how light therapy is used to treat different health conditions.
A brief history of light therapy
Light therapy has been used to treat medical conditions for over 3,500 years. For example, ancient Egyptians and Indians used sunlight to treat vitiligo and other skin conditions.
Niels Ryberg Finsen invented modern phototherapy. Finsen used ultraviolet light and sunlight to treat lupus vulgaris. Lupus vulgaris is tuberculosis that affects the skin (1). The use of light therapy has grown since then. Phototherapy is widely accepted today.
Skin conditions
Light therapy can be used to treat several skin conditions, such as:
· Psoriasis
· Eczema
· Vitiligo
