UVC LED for toenail fungus

[alternety]

Search indicated this has not been discussed. So into the fungal jungle of our toenails.

There are a whole bunch of snake oil sales sites dealing with this. From $50 to >$300. All pretty much say "trust us". Some claim to use lasers for heat and or LEDs. There is, however, real scientific research on the subject. I just started poking around. I have not found the correct Google magic words yet to find DIY projects on the subject. There has to be some.

Looking at one article (https://www.researchgate.net/public...on_photodynamic_therapy_blue_light_and_beyond) that goes through a bunch of other peoples results, it seems that a rough target is about 15 MW/cm of 254 nm UVC. A quick browse of Alibaba shows a bunch of diodes that could easily do that.

I would really like to take a shot at this, but I really would like to find some DIY experiences, or someone out there that knows a good bit about this. A good body of testing would go a long way.

Maybe get someone in China to make a Candlepower special device in a group buy.

If you are going to fix the problem with your toenails, you need to eradicate the toenail infection, then sterilize shoes, and common surfaces. All can be done with the UV. Perhaps in different forms. Smaller emission levels for toes, larger for shoes and surfaces. For the toes I think a constrained emission pattern would be needed to minimize exposure on surrounding skin. Rather like a small aperture penlight. Possibly rectangular light pattern for control and fast treatment.

The same approach (and possibly the same wavelength) also work for sterilizing wounds. Essentially a first aid light. And some effective eye protection.

There is at least one company that has a robot that has a real high power light source and can go into a room (think operating room) and sterilize the whole thing.

This might be an interesting activity for some of you LED guys to play with itty bitty wavelengths.

Does this interest anyone?

 

[Dr. Mario]

There is a good reason why not everyone will want to touch the UV-C LEDs; its wavelength is meant to kill the living things and it do its job well (its primary use is to kill virtually every single microorganisms on the surface being shone upon). So scarily well that you will have to sign the legal waiver before you can purchase a few of them, not to mention the unobtainium pricing (some will go up to $500 a pop).

However, since its emitted wavelength IS carcinogenic (ie. it causes cancer), most resellers and manufacturer would be hesitant to sell the LED to the private individuals for the fear of getting raped by overzealous lawyers. It indeed is hard to come by, even harder than the elusive Nichia LEDs.

Despite the hazardous wavelength, the LED would be great for mineral fluorescence - if you accidentally drop the UV-C fluorescence flashlight while being wooed by the colorful fluorescence of the rocks, you just pick it up and carry on, rather than having to deal with the shattered germicidal lamp which actually contain Mercury.

Alas, it's actually harder to drive the UV-C LED outta simple AA or similar setup, as you will have to boost 1.5 - 3 Volts up to 22 Volt the UV-C LED will want before it spit out any light. (22 Volts Vf isn't a joke, I have seen the datasheet on those LEDs. Horribly inefficient than the most common Gallium Nitride LEDs.)

 

[alternety]

http://www.alibaba.com/showroom/uvc-254nm-uv-leds.html
For some reason I thought the LEDs I looked at on Alibaba were higher power. Going back, it would need an array and a collimating lens to get the power range necessary. They also have shoe sterilizers in usable form.

I have not read all of the link I provided to the paper aggregating a very large number of research results. But so far, they are pointing to carcinogenic effects outweighing the potential uses. There was also one item that felt that that a longer wavelength seemed more harmful to skin than the 254 nm. There is way to much data in that report. Much of which is also way outside my level of understanding. If you haven't, you might find it interesting.

For toenails, you should be able to do a decent job of keeping the light away from the rest of the toe with a shaped screen. Note that there are people in the US selling similar devices now. And a controlled and localized application from an LED would certainly be safer than buying a germicidal lamp and spraying.

Just kicking around the idea.

 

[Dr. Mario]

Yup. UV-C array LED (or higher amperage model similar to either Cree XM-L or Nichia 219) would be better off being water cooled as they would run HOT HOT HOT due to silly high voltage requirement.

You don't want 1mW or stronger UV-C LED if you're meaning to fry the fungus outta your toenail as UV-C can reflect off certain materials, possibly like your toenail, if it's over 1mW in optical power.

 

[alternety]

I believe it needs about 15 MW/CM sq. And yes, wielding it without care and protection is a bad idea. There was more in the article about some of the lower blue frequencies having an effect.

 

[Dr. Mario]

Right. Not to mention UV-C is quite invisible, except when you shine it on some broken white fluorescent light or some mineral rocks. There is however some visible violet-blue light as some UV-C LEDs are modified Gallium-Nitride LEDs.

 

[fyrstormer]

Just go to a doctor and get a prescription to kill the infection properly. You can't kill the root colony of fungus using UV-C without killing the toenail-growing cells too.