UV light to cure sore throat?

UV light in places as sensitive as the throat and inner nose sounds like a bad idea. There is no dead layer of skin to protect the living tissue from exposure. Proceed with caution.

M8 I will add my voice to the caution of the others, skip this idea and gargle with TCP instead.

While it's not likely short term exposure to UV light will cause any problems, and it could kill some bacteria, it's not a good idea.

That little light is an absolute joke, get these if you want a mini UV keychain: https://www.fasttech.com/products/1040703 - they actually do a decent job, I keep one on my keychain. Batteries don't last, but for the price, you can't lose.

Gargle with some semi diluted listerine (1 third listerine, 2 thirds water or half and half, depending on your taste/tolerance) instead.

A neti pot also helps incredibly in dealing with throat/sinus problems.

The bacteria in your throat are likely more resistent to uv than the throat. But then, there's more of you than there's bacteria, so with the bacteria killed, the dead throat will grow back eventually.

uvaid.com
This site is a joke.
The useless items they sell are only 50 times overpriced.

All these keychains are UV-A, only good to play with money if anything.

There is UV sterilizing equipment used in industry though.

Go in the sun and open your mouth you will get many times more UV in your mouth that way than this keychain could ever deliver even if it was the right wavelength.

Thanks for he input! I don’t plan to buy that overprized keychain light, got better UV lights in my arsenal, just that the concept seems interesting, caution is definetly a must.

Salt water is also helpful for sore throats:

Go play with your lithium pipe bombs and let the guy shine light down his throat in the name of science for goodness sakes!

I think if it was that easy to cure a sore throat, then doctors would be doing this all over the world. I would be very skeptical of this and air on the side of caution. I use salt mixed with water and gargle.

I gargle with peroxide if I feel that tingle of a sore throat starting. Works every time, as long as I do it soon enough.

tastes really terrible. like, dry heave terrible.

I just spent the weekend w/ a friend and his family. they were all hacking terribly and were just about over a bad lung sickness. After the first night (drinking and smoking) I woke up with the start of a sore throat. I gargled with peroxide and drank a half gallon of orange juice. Right as rain.

There are several types of UV light. UVA, UVB, UVC.

LEDs can only generate 365nm-400nm wavelength light which makes stuff glow and look cool. But isn’t harmful. It falls into the UVA category.

Flourescent tube lights are 185 and 240ish nm wavelength which are both UVC category. These are the ones used as germicidal.

As wiki states:
UVC rays are the highest energy, most dangerous type of ultraviolet light.

On 13 April 2011 the International Agency for Research on Cancer of the World Health Organization classified all categories and wavelengths of ultraviolet radiation as a Group 1 carcinogen. This is the highest level designation for carcinogens and means “There is enough evidence to conclude that it can cause cancer in humans”.

UVB (and UVC) light can cause direct DNA damage. As noted above UVB radiation excites DNA molecules in skin cells, causing aberrant covalent bonds to form between adjacent Pyrimidine bases, producing a dimer. When DNA polymerase comes along to replicate this strand of DNA, it reads a “CC” dimer as “AA” and not the original “CC”. This causes the DNA replication mechanism to add a “TT” on the growing strand. This mutation can result in cancerous growths, and is known as a “classical C-T mutation”. The mutations caused by the direct DNA damage carry a UV signature mutation that is commonly seen in skin cancers. The mutagenicity of UV radiation can be easily observed in bacterial cultures. This cancer connection is one reason for concern about ozone depletion and the ozone hole.

edit: i just read that uvaid website. WHAT A RIPOFF!! The UVA emitted by that dinky 20 milliwatt LED (which is only 10% efficient or less for UV) won’t do anything whatsoever.
Its not even the right wavelength for killing germs. Geez.

^ This
Which is also the mechanism in which UV renders bacteria harmless, DNA damage leaving various cellular functions broken ultimately prohibiting growth, reproduction.

O.O

Years ago, when I was a student I worked in a record shop, all the cash was checked with uv light to detect forgeries….OMG Im going to die of cancer!!!

I don’t wear sunblock! Maybe I should? I’ve never needed to (my foundation and moisturisers have SPF though).

Isn’t the SPF in foundation & stuff usually pretty low tho?
If your out in the sun much or just want to prevent skin damage go for it.
Hows the UV levels in the uk?

Oh hey, chance for another toy! UV monitor! I guess one could just check the weather tho. :weary:

Over fifty years of Florida sun .

My dermatologist has the biggest smile every time I walk into his office . ( I'm probably paying for his new boat )

I have to go every six months to get something biopsied , frozen , or cut out .

Wear sunscreen .

Now that is some good advice.

Even up here in NY where we get snow or freezing rain 6-7 months a year, I always put on sunscreen in the “summer”.

But, I am not too sure about using UV light to cure sore throats. With all of the constant worldwide medical research, it would be by now a common office visit procedure to kill all surface bacteria with a UV light.

I have never heard of this.