Feature
Renewed Momentum for Photodynamic Therapy
New approaches are revitalizing photodynamic therapy, a light-driven therapy with more than a century of scientific history.
Illustration of single-point laser photodynamic therapy. [C.S. Carrizo et al. Adv. Therap. 8, e00541 (2025)]
Since antiquity, humanity has sought to harness the healing power of light. The Ebers Papyrus—a compilation of Egyptian medical texts dated to about 1550 BCE—contains a remedy for vitiligo that combines sun exposure with ingestion of a fruit extract. Hippocrates and other physicians of Ancient Greece promoted the use of sunlight to restore overall health, a practice termed “heliotherapy.” Other civilizations across the world applied sunlight to treat conditions ranging from psoriasis and rickets to skin cancer and psychosis.
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