Numerous light-based diagnostic and therapeutic devices are routinely used in the clinic. These devices have a familiar look as items plugged in the wall or placed at patients’ bedsides, but recently, many new ideas have been proposed for the realization of implantable or wearable functional devices. Many advances are being fuelled by the development of multifunctional materials for photonic healthcare devices. However, the finite depth of light penetration in the body is still a serious constraint for their clinical applications. In this Review, we discuss the basic concepts and some examples of state-of-the-art implantable and wearable photonic healthcare devices for diagnostic and therapeutic applications. First, we describe emerging multifunctional materials critical to the advent of next-generation implantable and wearable photonic healthcare devices and discuss the path for their clinical translation. Then, we examine implantable photonic healthcare devices in terms of their properties and diagnostic and therapeutic functions. We next describe exemplary cases of noninvasive, wearable photonic healthcare devices across different anatomical applications. Finally, we discuss the future research directions for the field, in particular regarding mobile healthcare and personalized medicine.

临床上经常使用许多基于光的诊断和治疗设备。这些设备的外观很熟悉，就像插在墙上或放置在患者床边的物品一样，但最近，人们提出了许多新的想法来实现可植入或可穿戴功能设备。用于光子医疗保健设备的多功能材料的开发推动了许多进步。然而，光在体内的有限穿透深度仍然严重限制其临床应用。在这篇综述中，我们讨论了用于诊断和治疗应用的最先进的可植入和可穿戴光子医疗保健设备的基本概念和一些示例。首先，我们描述了对于下一代可植入和可穿戴光子医疗设备的出现至关重要的新兴多功能材料，并讨论了其临床转化的路径。然后，我们检查植入式光子医疗设备的特性以及诊断和治疗功能。接下来，我们将描述跨不同解剖学应用的非侵入性、可穿戴光子医疗保健设备的示例案例。最后，我们讨论了该领域未来的研究方向，特别是在移动医疗和个性化医疗方面。