Red Light Therapy for Complex Infertility
When we talk about infertility, we often imagine a single issue, poor egg quality, hormone imbalance, or endometriosis. But for one woman in the new Phypers and Hanna (2025) case study published in Photonics, it was all three: polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), endometriosis, and low ovarian reserve. That’s a trifecta no woman wants - especially in your late 20s.
Ruth Phypers and Dr Reem Hanna were both guests on my podcast last year. Ruth and I will be recording a new episode soon to discuss our experiences using Class IV lasers for reproductive health in Texas and the UK.
In a nutshell - after six years of trying to conceive and one failed IVF cycle, the woman in this case study faced slim odds. Yet, with a carefully timed Class IV laser protocol her body did something everyone thought impossible: she conceived naturally and gave birth to a healthy baby.
Details That Matter
Here’s how her laser treatment looked:
· Duration: 4 months, covering 4 menstrual cycles
· Session timing: Only during the first 14 days of each cycle (the follicular phase)
· Frequency: 5 laser treatments per cycle
· Device: Multi‑wavelength system (660 nm, 800 nm, 905 nm, 970 nm) targeting the abdomen, lower back, and lymphatic points
Each 20‑minute treatment delivered about 12,600 joules j/cm2 of light energy. By focusing on the follicular phase, when egg development and uterine lining growth depend on mitochondrial and vascular support, the protocol addressed both hormonal imbalance and inflammation at the same time.
That’s a significant therapeutic load, close to 60,000 joules of energy delivered across her body over each cycle (only a % of this light reaches the deep tissues).
After years of failed treatments, she achieved spontaneous conception and carried a healthy pregnancy to full term.
Why This is Interesting to Fertility Specialists and Women
What’s especially encouraging is how few sessions she had. Many laser clinics worldwide recommend six sessions per follicular phase for three months - a practice derived from Grinsted and Ohshiro’s early studies, which lacked rigorous methods or controls. But this new case study shows something different: maybe less is more, or maybe what matters most is personalization of protocols. Not a one size fits all approach. For women under 35 or those in regular cycles, fewer treatments per month may be just enough.
For older women, however, emerging data paint a slightly different picture.
What Phyper and Hanna’s Earlier Work Taught Us
In their 2024 fertility case series, women aged 40 - 42 who had experienced repeated IVF failure received anywhere from 5 to 17 laser sessions over several months. The woman who received the most sessions, 17 in total went on to conceive naturally. That pattern suggests something powerful: older ovaries, with less mitochondrial reserve, may need more cumulative light to wake up cellular energy and repair pathways. It’s not about intensity but about building energy over time. But, at the moment we just don’t have large well run trials to confirm any of these findings but it seems logical.
The Granulosa Cell Connection
Photobiomodulation doesn’t magically “fix” eggs, it supports the granulosa cells that nurture each developing egg. These tiny but mighty helpers regulate hormones, energy metabolism, and follicular growth. When light restores their mitochondrial health, the ripple effects reach every level of ovarian function.
Learn more about granulosa cells and how light supports them in my earlier article on the impact of PBM on Granulosa Cells
How This Compares to a Panel or Off-Skin Devices
To put this into perspective, some of the top line home red‑light panels deliver around 180 J/cm² in a 20 minute session (and a lot of this light energy is reflected OFF the skin) and the light that gets into the skin can back scatter.
“This distinction highlights why clinical lasers use seemingly huge surface numbers: they must compensate for tissue losses so that adequate light energy reaches deep targets.”
By contrast, the energy density with a laser in this case reached an estimated 3150 J/cm² per ovary using concentrated Class IV laser light with deep tissue penetration. This does seem like a lot - but it’s at the skin’s surface - this is essential to keep in mind. How much reaches the ovaries?
How Much Light Actually Reaches the Ovaries?
When we talk about laser power, most numbers you see, like “78 J/cm² in 10 minutes” describe the energy at the surface of the skin, not the amount that actually makes it to the ovaries. The ovaries sit about 4 - 6 cm below the surface of the lower abdomen, behind layers of skin, fascia, and muscle.
Scientific modeling studies show that only around 1 - 5 percent of the light energy applied at the surface can make it to that depth. So, even though my Solasta handheld laser (1.3 W dual‑wavelength device 808 nm + 650 nm) delivers ~78 J/cm² to the abdominal skin in a 10‑minute session, the energy that likely reaches the ovaries is closer to about 0.8–4 J/cm². That seems tiny when compared to laser therapy but if you use the Solasta home laser twice a day, that becomes roughly 1.6 - 8 J/cm² per day, which, over time adds up to a cumulative therapeutic dose within the biological “sweet spot” for ovarian stimulation. That range (1 - 200 J/cm² at the target) is supported across multiple photobiomodulation studies.
This explains why recently available home lasers like the Solasta don’t need clinical‑grade wattage to be effective: by using the right wavelengths, consistent contact, and daily sessions, you can still deliver meaningful energy directly where it matters most.
You can read more about how home lasers differ from home panels and lamps and how much energy these devices can deliver on my detailed comparison blog.
Laser therapy isn’t a miracle cure, but it’s one of the most promising, non‑invasive tools in reproductive medicine today. The latest evidence suggests that women with inflammation, low ovarian reserve, or hormonal imbalance can encourage real cellular recovery over time, and it doesn’t always require exhaustive schedules especially when women can’t access laser therapy for fertility in their community.
(I published this article on Oct 20. It will be interesting to see how many LED device manufacturers start citing Ruth’s study for weak red light devices that cannot deliver a therapeutic dose to the ovaries - such as this device.)
Tracy
***Solasta home lasers will be available online in November 2025***
Additional Resources
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8803203/
