How Deep Does Red/NIR Light Penetrate Into Our Body?
The answer to this question is actually much more complex than you might imagine…
The penetration depth differs depending on many factors:
The type of tissues (e.g. skin vs. bone vs. fat vs. muscle).
First, it depends on exactly what part of your body you shine it on. It will penetrate much more deeply into your belly than your skull.
The power output of the device. More powerful lights can deliver more light to deeper tissues of the body.
The distance of the device from your body. As explained previously, the closer the light is to your body, the higher the light intensity will be and the deeper it will penetrate.
The wavelengths of light. Blue light and UV light, for example, get almost completely blocked by the skin and do not penetrate much more deeply than the very surface layers of skin. Whereas red and near-infrared penetrate much more deeply.
And within that category, near-infrared has significantly greater penetration depth than red light, and there are even some small differences between specific wavelengths of red and near-infrared light in terms of penetration depth.
Penetration depth is also made even more confusing due to varying claims of red/NIR light penetrating only millimeters into the body and other claims of it penetrating inches into the body.
How Deep Does Red/NIR Light Penetrate Into Our Body?
The answer to this question is actually much more complex than you might imagine…
The penetration depth differs depending on many factors:
The type of tissues (e.g. skin vs. bone vs. fat vs. muscle).
First, it depends on exactly what part of your body you shine it on. It will penetrate much more deeply into your belly than your skull.
The power output of the device. More powerful lights can deliver more light to deeper tissues of the body.
The distance of the device from your body. As explained previously, the closer the light is to your body, the higher the light intensity will be and the deeper it will penetrate.
The wavelengths of light. Blue light and UV light, for example, get almost completely blocked by the skin and do not penetrate much more deeply than the very surface layers of skin. Whereas red and near-infrared penetrate much more deeply.
And within that category, near-infrared has significantly greater penetration depth than red light, and there are even some small differences between specific wavelengths of red and near-infrared light in terms of penetration depth.
Penetration depth is also made even more confusing due to varying claims of red/NIR light penetrating only millimeters into the body and other claims of it penetrating inches into the body.
