# Does Shining a light up the nose helps Alzheimers? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 2, 2015, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-shining-a-light-up-the-nose-helps-alzheimers/733202 "2015-10-02T01:26:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![andrea\_green](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecccb3/32.png) [@andrea\_green](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andrea_green)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-shining-a-light-up-the-nose-helps-alzheimers/733202/1 "2015-10-02T01:26:54Z")
A company, [Vielight](http://vielight.com/), is claiming ([citing numerous journal studies](http://vielight.com/references/)) that intranasal photobiomodulation (aka shining a light up your nose) can radically improve outcomes in Alzheimers patients. “This is Rudy, he is 74 years old. A year ago, he was diagnosed as having “significant cognitive impairment” and not allowed out of the house unaccompanied. Today, he drives to the shops on his own. He is one of many Alzheimer patients that use the Vieligh” What’s the straight dope on this? Any possibility it is true? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-shining-a-light-up-the-nose-helps-alzheimers/733202/2 "2015-10-02T01:47:09Z")
All the information I can find about Intranasal Light Therapy of this sort comes from Vielight, and their statements are pretty weasely. This[skeptic website](http://skeptophilia.blogspot.com/2013/02/intranasal-light-therapy-and-texas.html)does a good job of identifying where their proof comes from. Some research has been done in other countries on the general concept, I don’t believe any of it has proved out in rigorous testing. [Here’s one report from China,](http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijp/2012/489713/) it’s conclusion is pretty weak: > [@](#): > > ILGLT may improve blood lipid and hemorheologic behavior of patients with CHD or CI ---
**Author:** ![steatopygia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steatopygia/32/3132_2.png) [@steatopygia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steatopygia)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-shining-a-light-up-the-nose-helps-alzheimers/733202/3 "2015-10-02T02:50:23Z")
IN NO WAY endorsing this, but the skeptics website was just snark. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-shining-a-light-up-the-nose-helps-alzheimers/733202/4 "2015-10-02T02:56:13Z")
> [@steatopygia](#): > > IN NO WAY endorsing this, but the skeptics website was just snark. Why should it be anything else? ---
**Author:** ![MmeRose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ee7513/32.png) [@MmeRose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MmeRose)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-shining-a-light-up-the-nose-helps-alzheimers/733202/5 "2015-10-02T11:57:57Z")
Thank you for posting this, AndreaGreen. I can report the info on the Website I belong to for angry doctors and might win the biweekly neurology competition. Even if I don’t, you will have brought laughter to many - well - angry doctors. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-shining-a-light-up-the-nose-helps-alzheimers/733202/6 "2015-10-02T12:10:20Z")
> [@MmeRose](#): > > angry doctors. Angry? Not really. Oh, I used to be disgusted and now I try to be amused. Evidence is still lacking for any tangible benefits from intranasal phototherapy. ---
**Author:** ![MmeRose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ee7513/32.png) [@MmeRose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MmeRose)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-shining-a-light-up-the-nose-helps-alzheimers/733202/7 "2015-10-02T13:04:10Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Angry? Not really. > > Oh, I used to be disgusted and now I try to be amused. > > Evidence is still lacking for any tangible benefits from intranasal phototherapy. Are you a member of said site? If so, you may know me… ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-shining-a-light-up-the-nose-helps-alzheimers/733202/8 "2015-10-02T13:11:21Z")
It worked for Rudolph. Of course, it was a red light, and that may make a difference. I’ve never heard anyone suggest that Rudolph has any sort of memory issues. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-shining-a-light-up-the-nose-helps-alzheimers/733202/9 "2015-10-02T13:39:39Z")
> [@MmeRose](#): > > Are you a member of said site? No I’m not. My angry days are behind me, as I found that being angry only hurt me and didn’t help my patients. So now I focus on First Principles, particularly _Primum non nocere_. A few docs here are still fighting that good fight, for patients and against woo and corruption/indifference. They might possibly be members. ---
**Author:** ![Chief\_Pedant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@Chief\_Pedant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chief_Pedant)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-shining-a-light-up-the-nose-helps-alzheimers/733202/10 "2015-10-02T13:40:36Z")
> [@andrea\_green](#): > > Any possibility it is true? Sure. The way to decide, though, is to look at controlled studies reported in peer-reviewed journals. I don’t have enough interest in the topic, but perhaps someone else does. What often happens commercially is that some (legit) researcher somewhere finds an effect. Then a reporter floofs up the potential ramifications should the effect be found correct and translatable into therapeutic application. Then an entrepeneur floofs up the reporting to provide “evidence” for a marketable product. At each step, from researcher to productization, there is an incentive to be as positive as possible. At each step there is also an order of magnitude increase in tendency to exaggerate. That’s how a laboratory effect of photostimulation on nerve cells (or whatever) becomes “Buy this for Alzheimer’s.”