Photobiomodulation with the Valeda light delivery system was authorized in November 2024, and we have been treating patients with it since summer 2025.

It seems too simple to be true that we could shine a light in someone’s eyes for a few minutes nine times every 4 months and that it would help either regenerate or slow the aging process in the retina. The premise is that shining a combination of three wavelengths of light (590 nm, 660 nm and 850 nm) into the eye helps activate the mitochondria in retinal cells.

The study to gain FDA authorization was relatively small, 148 eyes over 2 years. Compared with sham treatment, which was a reduced light at 590 nm, there was a significant improvement in best corrected visual acuity and a significant reduction in the number of eyes progressing to geographic atrophy. Because the Valeda photobiomodulation treatment (Alcon) had minimal risk, it did not require a large approval study, just a smaller study to gain authorization with less cost to get it to market — and hopefully less cost to patients and doctors.

Since starting photobiomodulation, we have been told that it is unproven and a sham and that as cornea, refractive and anterior segment specialists, we should not be doing it. This reminds me of the comments I heard when I started doing refractive surgery 40 years ago.

Therefore, when there was credible information that photobiomodulation might help people and had minimal risk, it seemed logical to give it a try. It will be a few months before our center has enough follow-up to determine how significant the effects of photobiomodulation are, but so far, things look promising.

The Cornea Research Foundation of America, which I started in the mid-1980s, was obviously focused on cornea and anterior segment problems, but over the years, the most frequent question I get from patients is, “Can you do anything for macular degeneration?”

Read more: https://www.healio.com/news/ophthalmology/20260304/photobiomodulation-revolutionary-breakthrough-or-scam?utm_source=selligent&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20260305PCON&utm_content=20260305PCON

Source: Healio