Dr. Arturo Solís Herrera, a Mexican ophthalmologist and researcher, has proposed a provocative theory that melanin in the back of the human eye captures infrared and visible light and transforms it into metabolic energy—analogous to the way chlorophyll drives photosynthesis in plants. According to Herrera, this process contributes significantly to human energy production, with claims that a meaningful proportion of the body’s energy is generated through this mechanism. While these ideas have generated interest in alternative biology circles, they remain highly speculative and have not been substantiated by mainstream scientific research.

What Is Melanin and What Does It Do?

Melanin is a complex biological pigment found in many tissues of the body, including the skin, hair, and eyes. It is produced by specialized cells called melanocytes and serves several well‑established functions:

• Photoprotection: Melanin absorbs harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation, helping protect cells from DNA damage.
• Pigmentation: Melanin determines coloration in skin, hair, and eye tissues.
• Metal binding and oxidative defense: Some studies suggest melanin may bind transition metals and act as an antioxidant in certain contexts.

These roles are documented in biochemical and physiological research, although melanin’s functions are still an active area of study in biology.

Herrera’s Hypothesis: Melanin as an Energy Transducer

Dr. Solís Herrera’s work suggests that melanin does more than protect against UV—it absorbs light energy and converts it into usable chemical energy through mechanisms he likens to photosynthesis. His hypothesis includes assertions that:

• Melanin molecules can dissociate water and produce energy carriers similar to the light reactions in plant chlorophyll.
• This process occurs in tissues like the eye’s retinal pigment epithelium, where melanin is abundant.
• A significant proportion of the body’s energy may come from this light‑driven mechanism rather than traditional metabolic pathways.

Publications by Herrera and collaborators describe these ideas in technical language and assert a “conceptual revolution” in how biochemistry is understood, proposing what he calls human photosynthesis.

Scientific Evidence: What’s Established and What Is Not

1. Absorption of Light by Melanin

Melanin does absorb broad ranges of light wavelengths, including visible and UV spectra. This property is part of its photoprotective function. In tissues like the retina and skin, melanin’s ability to absorb light is well recognized in research on photobiology.

However, absorption of light does not equate to energy conversion into metabolic energy. Traditional photosynthesis requires highly specialized structures—such as chloroplasts in plants—and a series of biochemical pathways that are absent in animal cells. Mainstream biology has not demonstrated that melanin functions as a light‑harvesting pigment that drives ATP synthesis or other energy pathways in humans.

2. Energy Production from Light in Animals

There are rare organisms (e.g., certain radiotrophic fungi) that appear to use melanin in unconventional ways to leverage radiation, but these phenomena are context‑specific and not equivalent to plant photosynthesis. They do not imply that human melanin performs a similar biochemical conversion.

The general scientific consensus holds that cellular energy in humans comes primarily from biochemical metabolism of nutrients (glucose, fats) via pathways like glycolysis and oxidative phosphorylation—processes distinct from photosynthetic energy capture.

Conclusion

Melanin is a biologically important pigment with well‑documented roles in photoprotection and pigmentation. Its ability to absorb light is well established, but the leap to it functioning as a photosynthesis‑like energy transducer in humans—particularly contributing significantly to overall metabolic energy—is not supported by mainstream biological science.

Dr. Solís Herrera’s theory offers an alternative perspective, but it remains speculative and requires rigorous empirical validation before being accepted by the broader scientific community. In the meantime, traditional metabolic pathways remain the foundation of how we understand energy production in human biology.

References

Herrera, A. S. (2017). Towards a new ophthalmic biology and physiology: The unsuspected intrinsic property of melanin to dissociate the water molecule. MOJ Cell Science & Report, 4(2), 49–60.

Herrera, A. S. (2020). The long‑term effect of medically enhancing melanin intrinsic bioenergetics capacity in prematurity. PMC. 

Herrera, A. S. (2019). Photosynthesis in humans. In Photosynthesis in Humans (pp. 1–xx). Nova Publishers.

Melanin. (n.d.). Wikipedia. Retrieved April 2026, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melanin 

RicciFlow. (2024, February). Interpreting the work of Arturo Solís Herrera: Melanin …. Retrieved from ricciflow.substack.com