Light therapy uses photostimulation to apply pure, beneficial red and/or infrared light directly to the skin, using a low powered LED light. Your skin cells convert this light, which falls outside the damaging UV spectrum, into cellular energy your skin can use to heal faster and more effectively. This energy stimulates collagen and elastin production, increases blood flow, improves cellular nutrient intake and removes excess fluids and waste from the cells themselves.
An example of how red light therapy helps to increase the body’s own healing mechanisms and, in the process, aid in the removal of dead cells, is in the treatment of acne. This occurs by reducing inflammation, rejuvenating skin, and diminishing scarring on the skin.
In a study titled Low-level red LED light inhibits hyperkeratinization and inflammation induced by unsaturated fatty acid in an in vitro model mimicking acne, the authors pointed out that “Low level red LED light therapy could provide beneficial effects of anti-inflammation, normalizing pilosebaceous hyperkeratinization, and improving barrier impairment in Acne vulgaris”[1]
This was reinforced by a further study entitled: The clinical and histological effect of home-use, combination blue-red LED phototherapy for mild-to-moderate acne vulgaris in Korean patients: a double-blind, randomized controlled trial that stated: “At the final visit at 12 weeks, both inflammatory and noninflammatory acne lesions had decreased significantly, by 77% and 54%, respectively, in the treatment group.”[2]
In yet another study – Regulation of lipid production by light-emitting diodes in human sebocytes – the researchers say that “630 nm red light strongly downregulated lipid production in sebocytes. These results suggest that 630 nm red light influences lipid production in human sebocytes and have beneficial effects on acne by suppressing sebum production.”[3]
[1] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29095531/
[2] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23278295/
[3] https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00403-015-1547-1
