Light Helps Immature Eggs Grow— Breakthrough in Fertility Science and Red Light Therapy

Scientists in Italy recently made an exciting discovery for women undergoing fertility treatments, especially those who have trouble getting their eggs to mature during IVF. Let’s take a look at what they did and why it’s so important whether you are considering IVF or not.

What Was the Study About?

· Researchers wanted to know if near-infrared photobiomodulation (PBM), could help immature eggs (oocytes) finish developing in the lab.

· They collected eggs from women after fertility hormone treatment and split them into two groups: one got the laser light treatment, and the other did not.

How Did the Laser Treatment Work?

· They used a laser at 810 nanometers (nm)—that’s a kind of invisible light our eyes can’t see.

· Each group of eggs got 1.0 W of energy and a dose of 60 joules per square centimeter, for just 1 minute.*** (see bottom of page for fertility protocol info for home devices).

· The light was carefully aimed at the immature eggs while they were growing in special lab dishes.

What Did They Find?

· Eggs that got the light matured faster and moved through the cell cycle better than those that didn’t. This means more eggs reached the stage where they could be fertilized.

· The best results were seen within just a few hours after the light treatment.

· Their “power plants,” called mitochondria, made a lot more ATP (the cell’s energy fuel): ATP production jumped by about 180% right after PBM and climbed to 240% above normal after 10 minutes.

· Even more promising, the eggs did not show signs of damage or stress, they remained healthy, with no extra harmful byproducts detected.

“The higher an egg’s ATP, the quicker and better it matured into a fertilizable egg.”

— Tracy Donegan

**180% increase in ATP immediately after PBM.**

**No signs of damage or cellular stress from the light.**

Why Is This Important?

· About one in five eggs collected during IVF is immature and usually gets disgarded.

· This safe, one-minute laser light treatment means more eggs can develop to the right stage, giving women especially if you’ve been labeled a “poor responder” or those with fertility challenges a better shot at success using their own eggs and not having to source donor eggs.

· The technology could help with both IVF cycles and preserving eggs for future use.

Imagine your phone usually takes hours to charge up just enough to get through the day. Suddenly, you plug it into a new charger, and in a matter of minutes the battery jumps to 180% and then 240%, so full, it could power your whole week. That’s the kind of energy boost these egg cells got from PBM. It transformed them from slow and struggling, to supercharged and ready to handle all the hard work of growing and maturing.

Just as a fully charged phone can run every app, make calls, and take photos without worrying about dying, these energized egg cells could finally complete all the steps needed for healthy development, something they couldn’t do before the light treatment. No supplement can give these results so readily.

Could This Help Women Without Doing IVF?

· If PBM helps eggs mature in the lab, it might also help eggs grow naturally in the ovaries at home with some of the new devices available.

· Experts believe that future treatments could possibly help some women ovulate better on their own and avoid IVF entirely.

Is There A Way to Replicate These Findings At Home?

Possibly.

This study shows how a little light can make a big difference for eggs, and for women hoping to grow their families.

So this is all very well, the eggs in the petri dish grew and there were no problems with cellular stress - BUT what does that mean IRL for someone reading this at home struggling with egg quality issues or ovulation challenges?

Dosage Comparisons: Phypers, Powermedic GigaLaser, and Ohshiro

Phypers Protocol: 40 J/cm² with contact laser facilitates maximal dose at the ovaries, sacrum etc; small case studies suggest high effectiveness for women with infertility.
GigaLaser Protocol: 40 J/cm² non-contact from mostly LEDs means only a tiny fraction reaches deep tissues, despite impressive surface numbers.
Ohshiro Protocol: Uses a lot less energy, only 18 J/cm² using 830 nm, delivered to specific acupoints for systemic effects. While the dose is lower, multiple, targeted sessions have still produced good fertility results in severe cases. This method is thought to work via neurohormonal regulation and improving blood flow to impact reproductive health.

Penetration Depths and Tissue Physics

The amount of light energy that reaches the ovaries varies greatly depending on device type and application. While red light (600–700 nm) typically penetrates only 1 - 2 mm into tissue, near-infrared (NIR) wavelengths (800 –1064 nm) penetrate up to 4 - 40 mm depending on the device and tissue involved. Direct-contact lasers deliver more coherent, collimated energy, maximizing transmission to deeper organs, while non-contact LEDs result in significant loss due to scatter and absorption at the skin surface.

Real-World Implications

In vitro results are exciting, but translating them to real women means the light has to travel through skin, fat, and muscle that absorb or scatter energy.
Lasers with direct skin contact and intravaginal devices deliver more light to the ovaries than non-contact arrays.
For women aiming to use at-home light therapy, intravaginal wands used regularly may deliver competitive, possibly superior, doses to the ovaries, especially compared to abdominal protocols.
Protocols can be tailored.

In the 2025 Italian study, each group of eggs was treated with 1.0 watt of near-infrared laser light and received a dose of 60 J/cm² over just one minute, delivering precise energy directly to the eggs in vitro.

When we look at clinical and device-based PBM protocols for human fertility:

GigaLaser and Phypers Protocols: Both deliver about 40 J/cm² therapeutic dose in one session, but the key difference is the mode of delivery.
- GigaLaser applies this dose over a large area, usually without skin contact and with most energy from LEDs, so only a small fraction penetrates to the ovaries.
- Phypers and similar laser protocols (Class IV laser) use direct skin contact, meaning more of the delivered surface energy actually reaches deeper tissues and reproductive organs.
Fringe Vaginal Wand: This intravaginal device delivers around 20 - 40 mW/cm² for 10–20 minutes, resulting in a total dose of 12–48 J/cm² per session, right to the vaginal mucosa.
- Because there is minimal epithelial tissue and the ovaries are much closer, the dose transferred to the target area can be functionally similar—or sometimes superior—to other external laser or LED protocols, especially with regular use.

The Fringe wand’s intravaginal use, minimal tissue barriers (no thick skin/fat/muscle), and proximity to the ovaries mean this dose is likely more effective for deep tissue PBM than a similar dose delivered over the abdomen (without skin contact). Women can increase cumulative dosing by using the device daily or even more frequently per protocol.

These specs confirm the Fringe wand delivers a clinically relevant fluence per session, approaching or matching the 40 J/cm² per-session standard from leading protocols (GigaLaser, Phypers) after just one or two sessions, particularly for women targeting pelvic and ovarian tissue with red light therapy.

This comparison demonstrates that while official protocols in clinics often use 40 J/cm² as a standard, at-home intravaginal devices like the Fringe wand can deliver a very similar effective dose to the reproductive system when used consistently. The absence of skin, fat, and muscle tissue between device and ovaries means less energy is lost in transmission, making the intravaginal route an affordable, efficient option for targeted PBM fertility support.

Hope for the Future

The headline? The future of fertility-enhancing light therapy is looking a lot brighter!
Whether in the clinic with professional lasers or at home with intravaginal wands, science is rapidly shaping new, non-invasive options for women hoping to improve egg quality and reproductive health. Device choice, consistent use, and well considered protocols all matter, and having these exciting new options means more paths to parenthood.

Are you as excited about this as I am?

(Stay tuned for a fascinating video comparing how much light is reaching your reproductive organs - from the inside out - with an Amazon vaginal wand Vs the Fringe wand).