Red Light Therapy is Trending Up, But Health Benefits Are Less Clear

The Signal: According to Google search interest, the latest medical/wellness trend looks to be red light therapy (RLT). The treatment involves the delivery of safe concentrated wavelengths of natural light to the skin which is then absorbed by the cells and kicks off a “host of regenerative effects… leading to potential benefits like younger-looking skin, enhanced muscle repair, and diminished scarring.”

Based on such ambitious claims, RLT has garnered its share of skeptics. Healthline has a useful round-up of which RLT benefits have some supporting evidence vs. those which have no supporting evidence.

The Opportunity: The opportunities with RLT include: 

• Selling RLT Products: On Amazon.com, the RLT products with the most reviews include: 1) RLT lamp ($42.99); 2) home-use wearable RLT ($199.99), 3) Red Light heat device ($99.99), and 4) RLT panel ($89.99). The top DTC paid search RLT brands are Joovv and Revian.

Source: Amazon

• RLT in Salons & Fitness Clubs: A few years back, Planet Fitness introduced an RLT offering called Total Body Enhancement. At one location, access to the RLT costs gym members an additional $21.99/month (~$260 a year). The specific machine is produced by a German manufacturer, Beauty Angel ($10,000+ per unit).
  
  An opportunity here is to sell similar machines to existing tanning salons, health clinics, and gyms. (According to Ahref’s Keyword Difficulty tool, the following related search phrases have “easy” rankings: “red light therapy near me” and “red light therapy salons near me”).
  
  Be sure to moderate any health benefit claims, though: The FDA has previously warned against tanning salons swapping out red bulbs into tanning beds and claiming RLT.

• Reviewing Products: Per AHRefs’ Keyword Difficulty tool, the following search phrases for RLT product reviews are rated “easy”:
  • “Best red light therapy device”
  • “Best red light therapy devices”
  • “Best red light therapy device reviews” 
  • “Best red light therapy for home use”
  • “Best red light therapy products”
  • “Best hand held red light therapy” 
  • “Best red light therapy mask”