Before you go correcting him, consider the possibility that his infrared heater glows orange, and he knows by the theory of blackbody radiation (combined with the lowness of the melting point of all the substances used to make heating elements) that that means it is emitting even more red photons than orange ones.

The "therapy" bulbs with the red or infrared (or both) LEDs are expensive (if they're intense enough to have a therapeutic effect on large areas of skin) and if he happens to have a heater that glows orange or any high-intensity incandescent bulb (either the ones with the red coating sold as heat lamps or the ordinary ones used for lighting) he can use that instead.

Alternatively, he can go out in the sun, which is an intense source of red and infrared photons (of almost all wavelengths -- and tending to come at you in many directions because they reflect off of greenery, dirt and clouds) and if he doesn't want at the same time to be exposed to UV light he can cover up with high-UPF clothing and hat, and the infrared photons will go right through the clothing and hat.

Thanks, exactly my thinking wonderful explanation.

I live in Canada, my eczema was always in the winter and didn’t manifest when I go traveling south. I tried many things, but the medication is cortisone (can really help if you have a bad flare up) but thing spring back with a vengeance. You are playing the junky with your immune system, what I feel we do with most medication.

For long time I thought it was UV, vit-D, humidity, but I stumble upon this thing about infrared while watching Medcram to learn about Covid (awesome channel by a doctor)

Anyway, the heat dish was a cheap test, locally available.

I figured the spectrum will be continuous in opposition to specialized led, closer to what come from the sun anyway. To my surprise it worked.

Maybe the specialized lights are better/stronger/faster.

My highest confidence is in the sun.

Medcram's covid videos are what got me onto this, too.

They’re expensive though. Looked into this a year ago. Have things changed?

My holy grail is a powerful LED light source where you can adjust the spectrumin very granular detail, including at the extremes.

I mean can't one buy those IR emitting LEDs for security cameras or TV remotes for cheap? Seems like they'd get the job done but it's hard to say what intensity is required.

The exact wavelength on the red/IR spectrum matters for how deeply the photons penetrates into cells. IIRC, 600-1100 nm is a sweet spot, so from deep red to IR. But the same wavelengths don't seem to help all cells equally. I think eyesight is improved from 600nm-800nm, but skin and muscle healing with deeper IR wavelengths. Interesting stuff.

Note though that near infrared also carries a risk of cataracts. I think they used to call it ‘glass blower’s eye’ because looking at the furnace was a high dose of near IR. Modern IR heaters use much longer wavengths.

Good point. I'm sure it has a lot to do with dosage and intensity. If near IR stimulates more activity in mitochondria (the purported mechanism here), that indicates there are some proteins or other compounds sensitive to that wavelength. It then stands to reason that large dosages at high intensity over prolonged periods can stimulate so much as to cause dysfunction, aka glass glower's cataracts.

I play around pottery kiln, you have to be careful looking at red hot stuff.

You usually don’t need to look at the light source as it penetrate the skin, clothes, skull, etc.

LED light are very efficient. Huge improvement. It’s what I have all over my house. The world is switching it’s a done deal.

I would prefer a continuous light source, or something that is closer to the sun where I spend most of the day (office) otherwise I don’t think it matter much.