Red-Light Therapy Shines Bright at Cleveland-Area Spas and Health Facilities
The timeless treatment continues to evolve with newfound benefits.
by Julia Lombardo | Jan. 15, 2026 | 5:00 AM
ISTOCK
I lie flat in a room at Soul Space in Cleveland’s Gordon Square neighborhood, on something reminiscent of a massage bed. A red-light panel is suspended 12 inches above my body. I’ve got 20 minutes, the maximum time advised for a red-light therapy session, and I have no idea how long it’s been. But as I ease into the warming sensation, I feel tingly, like my body is starting to relax. The time passed starts to matter less — until a timer ticks and everything goes dark.
When I remove my protective goggles, the room is blue, then teal, then blue again. The light was white when I entered. As I gather my things and exit the space, I ask chief operating officer Jamie Fiore why the colors change. He shoots me a confused look.
“There’s no colored lights,” he says. “That’s probably your eyes adjusting.”
The beauty of red-light therapy is that its benefits are actively being researched for practically every part of the body — eyes, waist, face, hair. Put simply, red-light wavelengths penetrate through skin to heal at a cellular level, reducing fine lines, wrinkles and other irregularities while also enhancing skin tone and texture. Red light is commonly used in dermatology to help with acne and skin pigmentation and in orthopedic medicine to treat inflammation and muscle pain. Jacob Wolf, a naturopathic doctor and acupuncturist with University Hospitals Connor Whole Health in Beachwood, also notes its prevalence in holistic medicine and natural therapy.
“It’s the same logic of why you go outside to expose your skin to the sun to get vitamin D,” Wolf says. “Those wavelengths are passing through the skin and activating different things to allow your body to create vitamin D. With red-light therapy, you’re getting activated by a light source and fine-tuned to those specific wavelengths that have their own medical properties and absorption depths in the skin. You get a more targeted frequency for what you need.”
Newer studies show that red-light therapy can also aid in producing collagen and elastin, boosting mood and reducing eye strain — far beyond what the treatment once was.
“The concept has been around since at least the 1950s or ’60s, using laser devices to do the same treatment in very small, concentrated areas,” Wolf says. “Through some technological developments with NASA, it shifted into these LED-based products. They essentially invented (red light) LEDs to be able to grow plants in space, and then used that technology in experiments to assess for wound healing and got good data.”
There’s power in just one red-light session; I feel smooth, like I’ve shed a layer of skin, and I sense an elevated eagerness in my demeanor. But this isn’t a one-and-done thing.
“Think about it like working out,” Fiore says. “You’re not going to really feel what it can do unless you do it frequently.”
Both Fiore and Wolf say that folks usually know what they’re getting themselves into with red-light therapy, though as demand spikes, an unruly market of face masks, belts and helmets can dupe the average user.
“There are a lot of reputable dealers out there, but take consumer-level products with a grain of salt, because it’s hard to control the quality,” Wolf advises, noting that devices may not use the correct wavelength to reap benefits like medical-grade equipment.
Regardless, he says that red-light therapy has been proven safe when used within reason: “It’s an external treatment. It’s non-damaging to the skin and other tissues. We have good evidence that it can be effective for a lot of different things.”
Want to bask in the red light? Here are some unique ways to get a dose across Cleveland.
True Rest
A Vitality Suite combines the healing properties of a red-light therapy session with a cold-water plunge and infrared sauna for a bundled experience that attacks inflammation in three ways. 21643 Center Ridge Road, Rocky River, 440-333-7378, truerest.com
Yoga Strong
Red-light yoga classes use full-body, near-infrared panels for muscle recovery, skin rejuvenation and a good stretch in one quick flow. 1104 Prospect Ave. E. Cleveland, 216-205-4642; 5896 Fulton Drive NW, Canton, 330-526-6001, yogastrongstudios.com
KÜR
At this medical spa specializing in aesthetic treatments, a face-focused red-light therapy session using a medical-grade LED light is ideal for those looking to reduce acne and wrinkles. 1415 W. Ninth St., Cleveland, 216-634-9088, chooseyourkur.com
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Julia Lombardo
Julia Lombardo is the editor of Cleveland Magazine’s home and style section and contributes to coverage of arts, culture and dining. She graduated from The Ohio State University in 2023 with an English degree. As both a journalist and poet, she is inspired by stories with creative flair. When she puts down the pen, she enjoys going to concerts, ranking coffee shops and walking aimlessly through wooded trails.
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