“Red light therapy” has become a familiar phrase in skincare and recovery circles, though the phrase is usually where the explanation stops. Understanding what these wavelengths actually do beneath the skin is what separates a device used once out of curiosity from one that earns a permanent place in your evening.
The mechanism is not mysterious. It comes down to two specific wavelengths, each interacting with a different layer of tissue, studied in dermatology and cell biology literature for over two decades.
Two wavelengths, two depths
The Wellness by Ora Face and Neck Mask uses red light at 633nm and near-infrared light at 850nm. These aren’t arbitrary numbers - they’re chosen because tissue absorbs each wavelength differently, and depth of absorption determines what layer of tissue the light can reach.
Red light at 633nm is absorbed primarily in the epidermis and upper dermis - roughly the top few millimetres of skin. Near-infrared light at 850nm, largely invisible to the eye, reaches deeper into the dermis and the tissue beneath it. Same device, two different jobs.
What happens to the cells that receive it
At the dermal level, red light is absorbed by fibroblasts - the cells responsible for producing collagen and elastin, the proteins that give skin its structure. A comprehensive review of photobiomodulation research describes how fibroblasts exposed to red light increase their secretion of procollagen, the precursor to mature collagen, while reducing the enzymes that break existing collagen down.
A separate randomised, split-face clinical trial combining 633nm red light with 830nm near-infrared light, published in a peer-reviewed dermatology journal, found measurable reductions in wrinkle depth alongside a visible increase in collagen and elastic fibres in treated tissue.
That’s the dermal story: more collagen being built, less being broken down.
The deeper mechanism - cellular energy
Near-infrared light works through a different pathway. Its target is cytochrome c oxidase, an enzyme inside the mitochondria - the structures that generate a cell’s energy in the form of ATP. Cytochrome c oxidase is a rate-limiting step in that process, and research suggests the wavelengths used in near-infrared therapy are absorbed by copper centres within this enzyme, helping release nitric oxide that can otherwise slow it down. The practical effect is a cell with more energy available for ordinary repair and maintenance work.
This is the piece that explains why red and near-infrared light are usually paired rather than used alone - one supports the structural building blocks of skin, the other supports the cellular energy needed to use them.
Why one session isn’t the point
None of this happens on a single-use timeline. Research on photobiomodulation consistently describes a dose-response relationship, where consistent, moderate exposure outperforms occasional, high-intensity use. This is closer to strength training than to a single treatment: the biological signal needs to be repeated to compound.
That’s the case for treating ten quiet minutes as a practice rather than a one-off. The wavelengths do the same work each time - it’s the repetition that adds up.
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