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Journal of Optics
Research
5g
Bioeffects
Australian proof-of-concept study finds the clearest skin changes under combined 5G and UV exposure
Three researchers at Swinburne University of Technology and Australia's ANSTO tested whether a label-free optical method, phasor-based fluorescence lifetime imaging, could pick up changes in skin exposed to 26 GHz 5G millimetre waves, to ultraviolet light, and to both at once. Working on porcine skin from a single animal, they report the clearest departures from unexposed tissue in the combined group, and that sunscreen partly preserved the normal pattern. The millimetre-wave dose was set deliberately above ICNIRP public limits as a worst-case proof of concept, so the authors say it should not be read as a real-world 5G exposure, and they do not attribute the changes to any particular mechanism.
Exposure note: The millimetre-wave exposure was 26 GHz, delivered in an anechoic chamber through a spot-focusing lens antenna with an effective spot size of about 1 cm, and the authors state the level was intentionally set above ICNIRP general public reference levels as a worst-case proof of concept, not a real-world 5G emission. The UV exposure was 30 minutes of natural sunlight at UV Index 7.0. The detailed imaging was done on porcine skin from a single animal, and the two fields of view per condition are two views of that same skin rather than two separate animals, so the study cannot show how reliably the effect would repeat. It shows that the imaging method is sensitive enough to pick up a change, not how the change scales with dose or what it means for health.
Quotes
"The combined exposure group exhibited the most pronounced deviations from baseline fluorescence lifetime characteristics."
— Foroughimehr et al., Journal of Optics
"Although current evidence has not established adverse health effects associated with 5G exposure within established safety limits, questions remain regarding tissue responses to prolonged or combined environmental exposures."
— Foroughimehr et al., Journal of Optics
"The present study was not designed to isolate thermal and non-thermal contributions through temperature-matched controls; therefore, the observed fluorescence lifetime changes should be interpreted as exposure-associated microenvironmental alterations rather than being attributed to a specific mechanism."
— Foroughimehr et al., Journal of Optics
Exposure
"The mmWave exposure level used in this study was intentionally set above ICNIRP general public reference levels to serve as a worst-case, proof-of-concept condition for establishing the sensitivity of phasor-FLIM to mmWave-induced tissue changes. This exposure does not represent real-world 5G device emissions or regulatory-compliant exposure scenarios, and the findings should not be extrapolated to typical public exposure conditions."
— Foroughimehr et al., Journal of Optics
Location
📍 Australia
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📄 Underlying Research
Phasor-based fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy for label-free assessment of skin tissue responses to UV and 5G millimetre-wave exposure
Foroughimehr, Clayton & Yavari
(2026)
Journal of Optics
Journal Level 1ⓘ
