biology

Photomedicine

Photomedicine is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Photomedicine rather than just read about it. In short: Photomedicine is an interdisciplinary branch of medicine that involves the study and application of light with respect to health and disease. Photomedicine may be related to the practice of various fields of medicine including dermatology, surgery, interventional radiology, optical diagnostics, cardiology, circadian rhythm sleep disorders and oncology.

Key takeaways

Photomedicine belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Photomedicine to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Photomedicine from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Photomedicine is an interdisciplinary branch of medicine that involves the study and application of light with respect to health and disease. Photomedicine may be related to the practice of various fields of medicine including dermatology, surgery, interventional radiology, optical diagnostics, cardiology, circadian rhythm sleep disorders and oncology. A branch of photomedicine is light therapy in which bright light strikes the retinae of the eyes, used to treat circadian rhythm disorders and seasonal affective disorder (SAD). The light can be sunlight or from a light box emitting white or blue (blue/green) light.

Examples

Photomedicine is used as a treatment for many different conditions:

PUVA for the treatment of psoriasis Photodynamic therapy (PDT) for treatment of cancer and macular degeneration - Nontoxic light-sensitive compounds are targeted to malignant or other diseased cells, then exposed selectively to light, whereupon they become toxic and destroy these cells phototoxicity. One dermatological example of PDT is the targeting malignant cells by bonding the light-sensitive compounds to antibodies to these cells; light exposure at particular wavelengths mediates release of free radicals or other photosensitizing agents, destroying the targeted cells. Treating circadian rhythm disorders Alopecia, pattern hair loss, etc. Free electron laser Laser hair removal IPL Photobiomodulation Optical diagnostics, for example optical coherence tomography of coronary plaques using infrared light Confocal microscopy and fluorescence microscopy of in vivo tissue Diffuse reflectance infrared fourier transform for in vivo quantification of pigments (normal and cancerous), and hemoglobin Perpendicular-polarized flash photography and fluorescence photography of the skin

See also Blood irradiation therapy Aesthetic medicine Laser hair removal Laser medicine Light therapy Neuromodulation Neurostimulation Neurotechnology Rox Anderson

References

Further reading Hamblin, Michael R.; Huang, Ying-Ying (2013). Handbook of Photomedicine. CRC Press. ISBN 978-1439884690. Retrieved 14 July 2014. Lim, H. W. (1993). Clinical Photomedicine. CRC Press. ISBN 978-0824788629. Retrieved 14 July 2014. Regan, J. D. (1982). The Science of Photomedicine. Springer. ISBN 9781468483147. Retrieved 14 July 2014. Rünger, Thomas M. Photodermatology, Photoimmunology & Photomedicine Wiley. Online ISSN 1600-0781. Smith, Kendric C. (1984). Topics in Photomedicine. Plenum Press. ISBN 9780306415104. Retrieved 14 July 2014. Wyss, Pius (1999). Photomedicine in Gynecology and Reproduction. Karger Publishers. ISBN 9783805569057. Retrieved 14 July 2014.

External links Article: Role of Photomedicine in Gynecological Ontology

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Photomedicine

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Photomedicine claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Photomedicine before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Photomedicine ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Photomedicine

In research: Photomedicine appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Photomedicine in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Photomedicine is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Laser medicine, Light therapy, Medical physics, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Photomedicine outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Photomedicine in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Photomedicine means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Photomedicine out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Photomedicine in simple terms?

Why does Photomedicine matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Photomedicine?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Photomedicine.