Peter Nesbitt saw the light, and now he sells it, via his Sarasota-based Quasar Bio-Tech, a manufacturer of handheld, light-based skincare products.

In 2004, Nesbitt, a self-described “serial entrepreneur” who’d just sold his previous company, was enjoying a golf-and-tennis lifestyle until he started suffering from knee pain. Through research, he discovered a professional medical device that used targeted light emissions to treat pain and invested “a few thousand dollars” on it, he says. “Within hours, the pain was gone. Within days, I was running up and down stairs.”

Nesbitt saw a business opportunity in targeted light therapy, but couldn’t make money in the medical industry. “Insurers wouldn’t pay for it,” he says of the treatment. “It was considered experimental.”

Then he learned about light therapy’s skincare applications. In a process called photo-rejuvenation, red and infrared light waves stimulate skin cells to create more collagen and elastin. “Those are the building blocks of healthy, youthful-looking skin,” Nesbitt explains.

He manufactured his first Quasar model, an application wand attached to a desktop printer-size box, for professionals in the skincare industry; the device’s size made it impractical for home use. Nesbitt then redesigned the technology so that the wand itself contained all the requisite electric components. In 2008, he began marketing that new device, Baby Quasar, directly to consumers via babyquasar.com.

Now, Quasar products, which also include a line of cleansers and anti-aging serums, are available at Neiman Marcus and other retailers, with Baby Quasars starting at $399. To date, more than 100,000 Baby Quasars have been sold. Baby Rayz, a new, smaller Quasar product targeting periorbital wrinkles, will be released this year.