LED Light Therapy, also short for light emitting diode, has been all the rage these days. This facial treatment involves exposing your skin to various wavelengths of light, including blue and red, to tackle various skin concerns like wrinkles, acne scars and pigmentation. Whether you are planning to give this facial treatment a go at home or visit a skin specialist, here’s everything you need to know about light therapy and how it can help with your skin troubles:
1. Blue Light and Its Benefits
Depending on the hues, light therapy accelerates wound healing and improves skin conditions. Blue Light Therapy tackles the sebaceous glands which help in slowing down the oil production in the skin. These oily glands are necessary to protect and moisturise the skin so that it doesn’t dry out. However, when these glands become excessively active, it makes the skin oily and more prone to acne breakouts.
Incorporating Blue Light Therapy into your skincare regime helps in targeting these oil glands and making them less active, which helps in reducing acne. Blue light also has antibacterial properties which help in targeting acne-causing bacteria beneath the skin, especially helpful for severe skin troubles like cysts and nodules. Studies also show that Blue Light Therapy is able to improve the healing of third-degree skin burns.
2. Red Light and Its Benefits
Red Light Therapy, on the other hand, mostly tackles the outer layer of skin, also known as the epidermis. Red light is helpful in increasing natural hydration levels by stimulating collagen proteins. Supplementing the body with collagen is important for skin healing. As a person ages, the body begins to produce less collagen which results in the skin showing signs of aging.
When the red light is being penetrated into the skin, the epidermis soaks it up and stimulates collagen production, resulting in reduced redness and inflammation, the appearance of pores, regulates oil production and speeds up the overall skin repair process. Producing more collagen results in a more smooth, glass-like skin with little to no fine lines and wrinkles. Thus, Red Light Therapy is most useful in giving your skin a healthy glow.
3. Why Light Therapy?
Light therapy in facial treatments is generally safe. Unlike chemical peels and laser therapy, the procedure is non-invasive and does not cause any burning sensation or pain. In spite of this, experts warn that the long-term side effect remains unknown. Some of the short-term side effects you may face after the procedure include:
- Inflammation
- Rashes
- Skin redness
- Tenderness
4. Does Light Therapy Work?
For light therapy facial treatment to work, it is mandatory to go for multiple treatment sessions before you can catch sight of improvement in skin appearance. While light therapy has been successful in improving most skins struggling with acne, experts advise that they should not expect all acne to clear from light therapy. Most of the time, people tend to see optimal results several weeks after their last facial treatment. Additionally, having follow-up sessions helps in maintaining these results as well.
5. At-home Device vs. Professional Treatments
While handheld light therapy devices are easily accessible and convenient to use at home, it’s not as effective as getting professional light therapy facial treatment done by a skin specialist. To ensure optimal light absorption, treatment sessions for professional-grade machines should last between 20-30 minutes. Handheld units for home use may seem like a good deal, but they simply cannot cover the same amount of skin in the same duration. Doing light therapy at home would mean that you’d have to get 30 minutes of light on each small area that those devices cover, making it a long and arduous task. The light therapy machines are more powerful for acne scar and anti-aging treatments, but the at-home light therapy devices are wonderful for maintenance.
Aesthetic Facials in Singapore
Even though LED light therapy appears to be safe for several skin conditions, experts warn against incorporating light therapy into your facial treatment if you are already taking certain medications like Accutane, or using topical treatments that cause sensitivity to light. If you are still up in the air about light therapy, it is highly recommended that you speak to a professional skin specialist before going ahead with the LED light therapy facial treatment.
Leave your face in the hands of Ceramique’s experienced beauty aestheticians, and we will do the rest. Our team of highly trained skin specialists can help relieve your skin troubles, reach out to us today to find out more!
