How It Works
Varichrome® Pro
Proven therapy that prompts the body to heal.
How Does The Therapy Work?
The short answer:
The body heals itself; the therapy prompts a restart.
PhotoMed's variable-wavelength therapy aims to improve physiological functioning and to reduce pain experienced by people underserved by conventional interventions and discrete-wavelength therapies.
Could accelerating healing enhance your business model?
The Varichrome® Pro lets the body select the wavelengths that it needs to resume or accelerate healing. The photons provide the "right" energy and information that the healing systems have been waiting for.
Figure 1 - The Varichrome Pro can activate mechanisms sequentially and simultaneously like playing a tune. The aim is to prompt the body and healing systems to resume their ordinary tasks. The therapy re-directs the healing systems attention to the beam area whether it's a melody or chaos. The delivery of a few wavelengths at a time avoids the problem that too many wavelengths at a time tend to cancel the beneficial effects.
The Varichrome® Pro provides wavelengths that promote a restart and/or acceleration of healing. The therapy efficiently delivers energy and information from across the visible spectrum (430 -700nm).
The effects of different wavelengths have been studied over the past 150 years. While general trends have been shown, other wavelengths can prompt the same beneficial outcomes. For example, wound healing passes through stages that may benefit from different wavelengths at different times.
Figure 2 - The effects of different wavelengths have been studied for 150 years. In a single device, the Varichrome Pro efficiently lets the body select the wavelengths it needs.
Varying the wavelengths increases the likelihood, relative to discrete wavelengths, that the body will respond. The Preset Selections on the Varichrome® Pro let the user efficiently find the wavelengths that "work" for the individual problem.
A few examples:
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Post-surgical pain, such as at scars
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Muscle knots that won't quit
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Lost range of motion after surgery
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Impaired sensations in fingers or feet
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Rehabilitation after stroke or spinal cord injury
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Arthritis
PhotoMed's studies didn't find the expected "A does B" relationships. Instead, the team documented that all visible wavelengths can prompt improved functioning, but on an individual basis.
Like everything in medicine, you have to try "it" to learn if it works. The logic of the Varichrome® Pro is the same but 1000 times faster.
Could sensorimotor adaptation account for all this?
In early 2023, PhotoMed's team stumbled over 3-billion-year-old processes that detect and manage the flow of information and energy. For example, cyanobacteria harvest photonic energy and produce oxygen but must move to reduce the ultraviolet light.
Sensorimotor adaptation processes are fundamental to living things from single cells to humans. Organisms are adept at detecting and responding to subtle changes such as the spectrum of light on our skin.
Figure 3- Depiction of the sensorimotor adaptation in a single cell (A) called phototaxis, a laser having a narrow range of wavelengths that do not change over time (B), and the variable-wavelength therapy that continuously varies the applied spectrum (C). The ability to sense subtle differences in spectrum imply that multiple mechanisms are involved. The spectrum of colors sensed by the human visual systems relies on the interpretation of signals from from sensing cells responsive to different wavelength ranges. Keratinocytes in human skin employ 5 opsins in a single cell.
PhotoMed's real-time recordings show the sensorimotor systems as they shift from "stuck" to resume their ordinary tasks.
The team had been looking at more complex answers but found each failed to account for the apparent versatility of the therapy. They found that the various mechanisms only describe the first steps between photonic energy and the return to normal functioning. For example, improving mitochondrial functioning doesn't account for the return of normal sensory or motor functioning.
However, variable-wavelengths can activate multiple mechanisms sequentially or at the same time. Organisms have evolved to use different mechanisms to detect subtle changes in light spectrums.
The team learned about the Serrage et al. review paper in late 2022 that led to finding phototaxis as a basic sensorimotor adaptation function.
What might prompt some unexpected benefits?
PhotoMed's studies showed some unexpected outcomes. For example, people with numb fingers or feet could feel them again. The problem appears to be that our brain can switch sensations offline and online again. For example, when you sit and then stand or change your shower water temperature. We call this the return to normal functioning.
The return to normal functioning can occur with persistently cold hands and limited range of motion, such as thawing "frozen" shoulders.
Would anyone be surprised if normal functioning had returned when expected?
The mystery has been solved for how varying wavelengths can efficiently prompt the body to resume its ordinary functioning.
Like how multilingual speakers effortlessly respond to the other person, the data suggest that contextual sensorimotor adaptation could account for the return to normal functioning. The varying wavelengths change the context; the body switches back to an earlier state wherein the functioning was normal.
The principles of responses to changes in context are central to how living things respond to stimulation.
For example, getting used to your shower water temperature prepares for the detection of the next small change.
PhotoMed Technologies was founded to develop photobiomodulation methods that improve the quality of life of underserved people.
From the beginning in 2000, the unexpected benefits challenged the engineering-style models. The concept of the return to normal functioning is central to PhotoMed's models.
Figure 3- Depiction of a response to a varying or non-varying stimulus.
How might photons differing in wavelength prompt the healing systems to finish their ordinary tasks?
Exploring pathways
Conventional photobiomodulation therapies (PBM) typically deliver one or a few wavelengths from each device. Wavelengths in the red spectrum (630-700nm) have been show to activate cytochrome c oxidase to improve mitochondrial functioning. However, wavelengths in the blue spectrum (400-450nm) have been shown to also improve mitochondrial functioning via a different mechanism.
Additional wavelengths may be needed to complete the healing processes in some cases. That's where the Varichrome® Pro shines with all the wavelengths from 430 to 700nm, a few at a time. More wavelengths means that the body can utilize additional mechanisms to accelerate healing.
Evidence for multiple mechanisms
A review paper includes details of the effects for 53 discrete visible wavelengths (diamonds in the graphic below).
The paper mentions multiple photo-transducing pathways:
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Cytochrome c oxidase
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Opsins
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Flavins and flavoproteins
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Nitric oxide (NO)-containing compounds and nitrite reductases
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Nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells (NFkB)
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Transforming growth factor-β (TGFβ) signaling
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Nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) signaling
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Mitogen activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling
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Extracellular-regulated kinase (ERK) signaling
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c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK)
Serrage, H., Heiskanen, V., Palin, W.M. et al. Under the spotlight: mechanisms of Photobiomodulation concentrating on blue and green light. Photochem Photobiol Sci 18, 1877–1909 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1039/c9pp00089e
The studies aimed to link a wavelength with a mechanism. Few studies compared multiple wavelengths for a single mechanism or multiple mechanisms for a single wavelength. The concepts of synergy or context were not considered. The synergy among wavelengths is similar the synergy in nutrition, drugs, and antibiotics. Exposure to too many wavelengths at a time appear to reduce the benefits.
Figure 4 - The Varichrome® Pro can deliver wavelengths across the visible spectrum, multiple pathways may be stimulated in parallel and/or serially. The visible spectrum can be traversed in 8 seconds. However, the patient measures success by their improved functioning or relieved pain.
The Serrage paper calls for studies to report exposure and treatment parameters that could enable direct comparisons between studies. However, could finding a dose-response relationship be more complex when considering how the context of the delivery might influence the response and outcome?
Summary
The Varichrome® Pro uniquely delivers visible wavelengths (430-700nm) from a single device. There are multiple mechanism that convert the photonic energy and information to forms useful to the healing systems. Then, the body can heal itself.
Could a 10-second video be worth 10,000 words?
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7 pre-programmed ranges cover portions of the spectrum found to help the body improve impaired functions.
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Like everything in medicine, you have try it to learn if it will "work" for the individual patient.
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Varying the wavelength during therapy efficiently improves the likelihood of prompting the body to resume healing.
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The practitioner monitors for a physiological response during therapy. Reports of pain relief often arrive later.
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The Varichrome Pro is now commercially available. Contact PhotoMed for details.
A few details about the Varichrome Pro
The Varichrome™ Pro selectively emits photons with wavelengths throughout the visible spectrum (430-690nm), a few wavelengths at a time.
With no missing wavelengths.
Its analog controls let the practitioner manually or automatically vary the wavelength and frequency during therapy.
7 Pre-programmed selections:
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#1-5 span the visible spectrum
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#6 yellow
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#7 spans 440-680nm
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Adjustable-rate of wavelength variation in programmed selections: ~4 - 32nm/second
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Manual range: 430-700nm
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Frequency: continuous to 500Hz
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Dimensions: L x W x H: 6.6 x 3.5 x 1.8 inches (Control unit w/o knobs)
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Weight: <2 lbs
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Charging Supply: 12VDC @ 18Watts, charging time ~6hrs.
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Operating time: 2hrs @ max intensity (external battery pack)
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Working distance and diameter: 1.5 inches, 1.5 inches
The Varichrome Pro is a Class II physical medical device.