Phototherapy_treatment.pdf

Light sources

for phototherapy

Contents

Preface

The human being and sunlight in history

Light in prevention, therapy and rehabilitation

Side effects

Characteristics of optical radiation

Optical properties of the skin

Artiicial light sources

Clinical references on usage of Philips UVB Narrowband (TL/01)

Pertinent references

Lamps and their applications

4th. revised edition 2009

Light sources for phototherapy

Proven to be the most

For more then 100 years, Philips has been one of the pioneers in lighting. Today, as the world’s largest

manufacturer of lighting products, we employ a wealth of experience to satisfy lighting requirements

for a multitude of applications. For photobiological and therapeutical purposes, Philips Lighting

can provide a broad variety of lamps. Not only did we introduce the very irst UVB lamps we’ve

continued to develop and improve them for the last 20 years. Our application laboratory carries

out research in close cooperation with universities and clinics throughout the world. Independent

clinical studies have proven that Philips UVB narrowband phototherapy lamps are the most effective

and safest for clinical use in the treatment for psoriasis, Vitiligo and other skin diseases*. Based on this

unmatched combination of experience and knowledge, Philips Lighting can offer the best advice to

equipment manufacturers on any possible application.

Don’t settle for poor imitations that could be harmfull to patients. Insist on Philips. The only UVB

narrowband phototherapy lamps that are certiied to be the safest on skin.

Philips Lighting is the ideal partner

This publication provides a review of the

history and the current state of affairs

regarding photomedical applications and a

summary of the products now available.

There is always the possibility that new

products emerge from the close cooperation

between scientists and lamp manufacturers.

The more accurately the application, its action

spectrum or the dosage is deined, the better

the light source can be optimized as to its

eficacy and economy.

*Reference available at www.philips.com/phototherapy

Light sources for phototherapy

effective on skin

The human being and

Far back in history, sun was considered

a source of life. Indeed, it was often

elevated to the status of a god and

men believed in the healing powers

of its rays. All over the world evidence

has been found of cults worshipping

sun-gods.

In ancient history the sun worship of the

Pharaoh Akhenaton (1350 B.C.) was very

important. He built temples dedicated to

the light god, Aton. These temples were very

unusual for the time as they had no roof,

so the sunlight could freely ill the space

inside. As an example to their co-religionists,

Akhenaton and his family took off their

clothes to beneit from the healing effects

of the rays of the sun. The priests remained

rather skeptical about this “enlightened”

religion of Akhenaton. It lourished at the

expense of their mystical and darker cults.

facing south he treated patients on a scientiic

basis. He is, with good reason, considered to

be the father of light therapy.

Later the Greeks and Romans continued

this light therapy, otherwise known as

heliotherapy. In the Roman baths (therms),

famous throughout history, it was also

possible to sunbathe in a solarium. The

concept of the solarium dates from this

time, indicating that use was being made of

natural sunlight. Nowadays the word solarium

refers to the use of an artiicial sun, i.e.

equipment containing special lamps. With the

decline of the Roman Empire, heliotherapy

disappeared. In the Dark Ages and with

the spread of Christianity, medicine and

hygiene declined, creating a situation where

epidemics of cholera, plague and smallpox

could easily break out. Also with the rise of

Christianity, attention to the body and display

of nakedness was considered sinful. All baths

disappeared from houses and public bath

houses were closed. The Swiss Arnold Rikli

(1823-1906) reintroduced the positive effects

of sunlight forgotten for many centuries, and

used this effects as the basis of successful

natural healing methods. He practiced for

more than 50 years. He was responsible for

developing therapeutic guidelines and ideas

which are still valid today. His motto “Water

is good, air is better and light is best of all”

is at the core of heliotherapy. The Danish

doctor Niels Ryberg Finsen (1860-1904)

initiated an emphatic rebirth of light therapy

in 1898. In that year he established a sun

garden in Copenhagen (attached to the Finsen

Institute) for his patients, where they could

sunbathe completely naked. At the start, only

natural sunlight was used, but because sunlight

at this latitude (55°N) is not so plentiful, he soon

After the death of Akhenaton, the sun

temples were soon pulled down. However,

“sunbathing” continued to exist through the

centuries in Egypt. The historian Herodotus

(5th century B.C.) found this so remarkable

that he described it in his chronicles: “The

health-promoting properties of sunlight

have been recognized from the beginning

of civilization as a natural intuitive desire

which causes humans, when in poor health,

to be attracted by our largest optical

radiation source: the sun.” In these early

times, phototherapy (heliotherapy) was born

and guided by experience rather than any

scientiic basis for the treatment of certain

ailments. The Greek doctor and “father” of

medical science Hippocrates (born in 460 B.C.

on the island of Cos) had, on his many travels

in Egypt, studied the sunlight treatment which

was practiced there. On his return to Greece,

he set up a clinic and medical school on the

island of his birth thus breaking away from

the medicine as practiced at the time by the

priests. He was practicing medicine for the

irst time as a real empirical science. He wrote

books on the surgery of fractures, hygiene and

diets. In his sanatorium with its open gallery

Light sources for phototherapy

sunlight in history

The sun can be regarded as an indispensable environmental

factor in regulating our genetic material, biological rhythms and,

in a broad sense, many photobiological processes via the skin

and the eyes. What we know today about these photobiological

processes is certainly only the tip of the iceberg.

changed over to the use of artiicial light sources.

Consequently he discovered that the ultraviolet

part of the sunlight spectrum had a beneicial

inluence on the human body. In 1893 he

demonstrated that red light was beneicial

for healing the skin of smallpox patients. With

artiicially generated ultraviolet rays he could

cure patients suffering from skin tuberculosis.

In 1903, one year before his death, he

received the Nobel Prize for Medicine.

in moderation. An important reason for this

is that illnesses which were previously cured

with the help of UV radiation are now treated

with drugs including antibiotics. An example of

this is skin tuberculosis (lupus vulgaris) which

was formerly treated (discovered by Finsen)

with UV radiation. This was later replaced

by drugs and so treatment with ultraviolet

radiation was quickly forgotten. With the

present rapid increase in the use of medicines

and the many objections which this has given

rise to, the prophylactic and therapeutic

effects of optical radiation deserve to receive

much more attention.

It is clear that in the millions of years of

evolution our bodies have become adapted

and make use of the complete solar spectrum

to regulate various body functions. The

beneicial effects of ultraviolet rays were

researched and valued much more in East

European countries, such as Russia, than

in the Western medical world. It is a great

pity that in our Western society’s attention

is given almost exclusively to the negative

effects of solar radiation. These negative

acute and chronic effects only occur when

the body is excessively exposed to this

radiation. In general, no mention is made of

the great beneits of UV radiation which can

be received in full measure when it is used

In view of the long history of the relationship

between man and the sun’s rays, in this

brochure written in a non-technical style,

we are trying to create more interest in the

positive effects of non-visual optical radiation.

Since prehistoric times the evolution of all life

on earth has taken place under the radiation

of the sun.

Light sources for phototherapy

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