I have been aware of the claims that infra-red and light therapies have had some beneficial effects on hay fever, allergic rhinitis and allergies. Despite this, I have never in 20 years of my allergy practice seen any evidence that this therapy is of any benefit. Ultraviolet light therapy has been shown to be of benefit in dermatology for eczema and psoriasis and this is clinically well documented. There is obviously a marketing opportunity in selling cheap battery operated intranasal light probes and torches to hay fever sufferers with a lot of misinformation. References from reputable medical journals (such as the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology) can be massaged to appear cutting-edge science, but in fact it is very easy to get a letter to the editor of one of these journals published and then used as evidence of scientific acceptance. One only needs to present an anecdotal research paper at a medical congress (without any peer review) and use this as acceptance of a new therapeutic modality. What I am basically trying to say, is that it is very easy to present some superficially convincing evidence of a treatment that is of no basic therapeutic effect. In my final analysis there is no convincing scientific evidence that light therapy has any beneficial effect on allergic diseases and until such evidence is available, I for one could never recommend it.
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