Introducing Lucium with Inventor, Ed Craft

Ed Craft, welcome to Maiden Voyage, the inaugural episode of the Light Podcast, sponsored by Aspen Live Well. You’re the first guest we’ve ever had.

Well, I’m kind of honored to be here. It’s been a long road.

We’re going to talk about Lucium, the topical you’ve invented and created for laser therapy. But first, give people a little background about who you are.

I’ve been working with facilitated permeation of biologically active topical substances on the surface of the skin using light energy to propel them into the tissue. I hold four patents and one pending related to this technology. What we’re discussing today is part of that patent-pending work and also tied to issued patents we already have. This goes back to 2001 — more than 20 years of active work.

Let’s talk about why people use laser therapy. What are the benefits?

Light causes a photochemical response in tissue, similar to how morphine works. Light waves enter the tissue and trigger chemical responses. One of the first effects is nerve quieting — pain signals stop reaching the brain. When nerves stop firing, trigger points relax, muscles release, and range of motion improves.

That alone would be valuable, but the real benefit is deeper. Light restores cellular function to homeostasis. Mitochondria resume full ATP production as oxygen floods back in. Cells return to normal behavior — repairing tissue, healing ligaments, tendons, muscles, bones — speeding healing back to its natural rate.

The challenge has been penetration. Higher power doesn’t always mean deeper penetration because light scatters laterally at the skin surface. Darker skin and tattoos make this worse — often preventing light from reaching deeper tissue at all.

That’s where the topical comes in. It enhances penetration and removes the barrier created by the skin surface.

The topical contains polyphenols, which are anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving through non-NSAID pathways. These compounds promote healing. Light energy deposits these constituents into the stratum corneum, where they elute into deeper tissue and remain after treatment.

This topical is not a numbing cream. It has its own photochemical properties. Combined with light, the effect is synergistic — one plus one equals five.

We’ve talked offline about the world’s first clinically relevant topical for on-skin laser use. Tell us about Lucium.

When light hits the skin, 30–40% is lost immediately due to surface scattering. The skin is designed to scatter light. A laser beam loses its collimation and spreads sideways instead of penetrating.

On-skin lasers face this problem even when placed directly against the skin. Light dissipates, reflects, and spreads laterally instead of reaching deeper tissue.

Lucium is composed of high refractive index oils. The stratum corneum is lipophilic, so the oil penetrates and creates a unified refractive index matrix. Normally, the stratum corneum contains melanin, proteins, and cellular debris that scatter light. With the topical applied, the layer becomes optically clear in the red to near-infrared range.

This preserves the collimation of the laser beam and allows it to pass through the stratum corneum into deeper tissue. The stratum corneum causes 100 to 1,000 times more scattering than the viable tissue below it — so getting through that layer is critical.

Without the topical, light spreads laterally and loses effectiveness as it travels deeper. With the topical, the beam remains focused and penetrates further, delivering a higher and more effective dose.

Dosage matters. Light is chemical medicine. The first law of photochemistry states that if light doesn’t reach the target, no photochemical reaction occurs — no matter how long you apply it.

Melanin creates another challenge. Darker skin absorbs more light and produces more surface heat, forcing practitioners to reduce power or move quickly — both of which reduce effectiveness.

Lucium neutralizes this issue by unifying the refractive index of the stratum corneum. Skin tone becomes irrelevant. A Fitzpatrick 1 and a Fitzpatrick 6 receive essentially the same light penetration.

Tattoos have historically been a major barrier. Light becomes trapped in the tattoo plane and converts to heat instead of penetrating. Even low-power lasers can cause discomfort or injury.

With a collimated beam preserved by the topical, most light passes through the tattoo plane rather than being trapped. Some absorption still occurs — ink is visible, after all — but confinement is greatly reduced.

This makes tattoos effectively a non-issue. Dark ink, dark skin — it no longer matters. Treatment becomes simpler, safer, and more effective.

Clinically, this means faster treatment times, deeper penetration, higher dosing, and better outcomes across all patients. It reduces the need to lower power, disable wavelengths, or rush treatments.

The topical is skin-friendly and moisturizing. It wipes off easily and can also be used as a massage oil. The ingredients — grape seed oil, jojoba, and squalane — are well known and widely used.

Patients consistently report a better experience. Those who’ve received treatment both with and without the topical now request it every time. Once they experience it, they don’t want treatment without it.

We believe this will become the new standard of care. It changes what’s possible with laser therapy — especially in sports medicine, where tattoos and darker skin tones have long limited treatment options.

Ed, thank you for joining us on our inaugural episode and for creating Lucium. We look forward to bringing it to market.

Thank you. I look forward to moving forward as well.