Light Therapy for Neonatal Jaundice

The use of light in the treatment of neonatal jaundice is no doubt the most common therapeutic use of light in medical practice today. It has been used on millions of infants worldwide since its serendipitous discovery more than 30 years ago.1,2 There has been little change over this period in how this phototherapy is administered and essentially no improvement in its efficacy. What has changed is our understanding how light affects bilirubin, the pigment which produces the yellowish discoloration of skin called jaundice.