Infrared lights cause nerve damage?

The type of IR lamp I have is the same as used in reptile cages and gives off no light at all, well not as we know it. I believe it’s the same IR as used by the military for night vision? My research also showed this to be the best type of IR to use in conjunction with PE. As I understand it the temperature needs to be pushing 45 degrees C for it to be of benefit. The tissue will stretch that bit further, but doesn’t return entirely to its previous condition if held extended while the heat source is removed and the unit rapidly cooled.

Seahorse, what wattage bulbs do you use? Do you have a link that shows the IR lamp you have? Thanks!

Even better seahorse- can you link to a site selling such an tiem?

I hate the glare of IR- even white IR, so much that I don’t use it anymore.

Why don’t you do into a pet store and say “I need an IR lamp so my lizard kan keep warm while exercizing.”

Believe you me, I will if I have to!

;)

I bought a 250w IR bulb designed for those bathroom ceiling heaters. I put it in my desk lamp for 30 seconds and it was way too hot and bright.

I am guessing that these are the kind of bulbs that seahorse is using: www.reptilesupply.com

This page has a good description of them: www.infraredheaters.com .

They seem more expensive, but if they last as long as they are supposed to (20000 hours), they would work out to be very cheap. 20000 hours of PE is a lot of PE!

I have seen them going from 40w up to 250w, but more commonly 60w-100w. If the lower wattage ones provide enough heat, that would be handy as I could put it in a desk lamp without going too far over the lamp’s wattage rating.

Be very, very certain that your desk lamp is rated for a 250W bulb - I’d bet good money that it isn’t. The base might melt, the bulb fall out, a fire is started and then you get nothing on the insurance because the investigators find a 250W bulb in a 60W lamp.

Go buy yourself a proper lamp at the same time.

Even worse: the bulb could fall on your .

Good advice. I only used the bulb once, and after 30 seconds it was obvious that it was not a good idea, and not a suitable bulb.

Reading through a couple of reptile forum threads yesterday, I came across stories of standard glass IR bulbs shattering when they blow. Even worse: shards of glass everywhere and live 120/240v inches away :eek:

I always thought that nerve damage would mean that the penis would become LESS sensitive, not more. Is this this way off?

Well you know how sunbeds damage your skin and can give cancer. These sound like a similar type of thing to me. I wouldn’t like to use such things, good old fashioned hot water would be better in my books at least we know where we stand with it.

Sun beds use ultra violet light which is higher in energy than IR light and hence can cause cell damage. Only way you could damage yourself through IR, is if you heated your skin too much and basically cooked it.

Damn I hate when some bastard gives out blatently false information. “Why I oughta..!”

I agree with most of what has been said in this thread, IR light is even less intensive than visible light, so you are not going to damage yourself unless you simply heat up your skin too much.

However, this here is false. Microwaves and radio waves have an even longer wavelength than IR, therefore they are LESS capable of penetrating tissues, not more.

Electromagnetic spectrum - Wikipedia