Red Light Therapy Cuts Thyroid Medication Needed in Hashimoto's Patients
A small human trial found that red light therapy applied before stopping thyroid medication let patients with Hashimoto's-related hypothyroidism get by on a 64% lower levothyroxine dose nine months later, according to a report in Lasers in Medical Science.
Researchers enrolled 43 adults with hypothyroidism caused by chronic autoimmune thyroiditis, commonly known as Hashimoto's disease, all of whom had previously required levothyroxine replacement therapy. In this randomized, placebo-controlled trial conducted from 2006 to 2009, 23 patients received 10 sessions of low-level laser therapy at 830 nanometers with an output power of 50 milliwatts and a fluence of 707 joules per square centimeter, while 20 patients received 10 sessions of a placebo treatment using the same device with no active light delivered. Levothyroxine was stopped 30 days after the laser or placebo sessions ended. Nine months after stopping the medication, researchers measured how much levothyroxine each group needed to restore normal thyroid hormone and thyrotropin, the pituitary signal that tells the thyroid to make more hormone. The laser group needed an average of 38.59 micrograms per day compared with 106.88 micrograms per day in the placebo group, a 64% lower dose. The laser group also had lower thyroid peroxidase antibodies, proteins that attack thyroid tissue in autoimmune disease, and greater thyroid tissue echogenicity, a structural marker on ultrasound. Thyroglobulin antibody levels, another marker of thyroid autoimmunity, did not differ between the two groups.
Levothyroxine Dose Needed: 38.59 vs 106.88 mcg/day (64% Lower)
The available abstract did not describe a specific cellular mechanism for the effect. Photobiomodulation, also called low-level laser therapy, delivers specific wavelengths of light that mitochondria, the energy-producing structures inside cells, can absorb to generate more cellular energy. In autoimmune thyroiditis, ongoing immune attack damages hormone-producing thyroid tissue over time, which is part of why the gland eventually needs outside hormone to keep levels normal.
This trial included only 43 people, split unevenly into groups of 23 and 20, and the available abstract did not report funding or conflicts of interest; thyroid medication was withdrawn only under close medical supervision as part of the controlled research design, and the antibody and ultrasound changes are structural and immune markers rather than direct measures of long-term thyroid failure.
Data Panel
- Who
- 43 adults with hypothyroidism caused by chronic autoimmune thyroiditis (Hashimoto's disease), all previously on levothyroxine
- Design
- Randomized, placebo-controlled trial conducted 2006 to 2009; levothyroxine stopped 30 days after treatment sessions, with thyroid function reassessed 9 months after stopping medication
- Dose
- 10 sessions of low-level laser therapy at 830 nm, 50 mW output power, 707 J/cm2 fluence (n=23) versus 10 sessions of placebo light treatment with the same device (n=20)
- Primary result
- Laser group needed 38.59 ± 20.22 mcg/day levothyroxine to normalize thyroid hormone versus 106.88 ± 22.90 mcg/day in the placebo group, a 64% lower dose
- Secondary
- Lower thyroid peroxidase antibodies in the laser group; greater thyroid tissue echogenicity (ultrasound structure marker) in the laser group; no difference in thyroglobulin antibodies between groups
- Funding / conflicts
- Not reported
Dr. Axe's Take
This is one of the more compelling human trials I have seen on red light therapy and the thyroid gland. A dose difference this large after nine months tells me the gland itself was working better, not just being masked by a pill. I would not read this as permission to stop thyroid medication on your own — researchers withdrew it under close monitoring, which is very different from doing it at home. What I would try is red or near-infrared light therapy over the neck a few times a week as a supportive add-on, while working with a doctor who tracks TSH, free T4, and thyroid antibodies before any medication change.
— Dr. Axe