Here's the excerpt regarding near infrared light and kidney failure on Marcola.com. The name of the article is "Healing the Body With Photobiomodulation".
"• ... Near-infrared may also be useful for kidney problems. Anecdotal evidence suggests it could be a powerful therapy for kidney failure.
“Kidney failure is the third leading cause of death. These are old folks who are dying from kidney failure. You can’t really give them transplants because they’re elderly. You put a near-infrared LED array where their kidneys are and it seems to work like a dream. [But] it’s hardly been studied at all,” Hamblin says.
Folks, this is a GOLDEN pearl from this interview. Who would have ever thought that shining a light over your kidneys could radically improve kidney disease? It’s certainly something that needs to be seriously considered by those with kidney impairment, as there is virtually no down side. Additionally, I have reviewed studies showing shining the light over your thyroid gland can be useful for autoimmune thyroiditis."
I can say from personal experience that it does in fact "work like a dream"!
In my previous post, edit has been disallowed, I asked whether you had the Beurer IP 50 but made a mistake, it should of been the Beurer IL 50. Judging by the price you mentioned I am guessing that this is the one that you have. They do make a number of these type of devices, some smaller and they do have a fairly wide range of devices. Can you confirm that this is the one?
I would like something which improves my circulation as I have multiple risk factors which need to be addressed. Everything so far has not made a big difference or more likely that my treatments for CFS which have worked fairly well, are as a result damaging my circulatory system.
Be aware that the IL 50 wavelengths do not include Red light which that article does show as having beneficial properties. This is 630 to 660 nm wavelengths and these lower wavelengths are more penetrative. This is similar to commonly available red laser pointer devices. I might look at a high power red laser pointer device to see if those might be of benefit. There are 5mW pointers which might do the job. Such devices have been banned here and cannot be sold.
Another interesting article on the mercola website, it is quite long but informative about the effects of light on the body.
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2016/10/23/near-infrared-led-lighting.aspx
From what you say, it does not sound like it has entirely solved the problem, at least not yet, if you have to keep using it to maintain a working kidney function. If I was you I would not rest on my laurels with this. It has bought you more time but the circulation to your kidneys does need to be restored. The things that I listed in an earlier post to this thread are ways of improving circulation and if coupled with heat and light which causes a release of nitric oxide dilates blood vessels/arteries etc and improves circulation. This would be how Infra Red helps circulation due to it's release of nitric oxide. Directing needed nutrients to the kidney such as vitamin c and collagen creating molecules (amino acids) and nutrients which strengthen veins and the circulatory system might help regain kidney function so that persisting with the therapy becomes unnecessary. Enzymes might also help.
Thanks for providing information on your condition as I could not remember precisely how things were as it has been some time since I read the thread that you started.
While looking into this subject I came across an interesting article about light therapy and it's effects on bacteria which sounded useful. Wavelengths such as 870 and 930nm can cause damage to bacteria which might prove useful if I can find a suitable method of using it. I need to check whether this can produce heating which I would not want because it would need to be close to the skin to enter deep enough into the body to have the effect that I want.
I don't see any particular model number for the Beurer. However there's a lot of info on the amazon page here. As you can see it's definately an infrared (both near and medium) lamp with heat. And if you're concerned about the dangers of LED, this isn't an LED unit.
However the second Mercola article you referenced states there's no differences in the effectiveness of digital or analog infrared sources. So this might be a good option for you.
I have no idea if this would help for circulation issues, but from your research it looks like it might. Several years ago I had circulation issues too that even intense workouts couldn't fix. Energetic Yoga practices (Kundalini/Kriya) made all the difference for me. And these aren't strenuous, in fact 90% of it is done by sitting, breathing and visualization.
I can point you to my sources if you're interested. And if you have/had CFS I'd highly recommend it - your energy levels go through the roof.
But it sounds like the Beurer might be a good starting point. Does Amazon not ship this unit to where you live?