What is LED Light Therapy? Here's How to Maximise LED Light Therapy Benefits For Your Skincare

There are many creams, serums, and skin treatments out there that can help treat all sorts of skin issue. But you may be curious about light emitting diode or LED light therapy where, just as the name states, it uses light to treat skin issues such as fine lines and wrinkles, plus treatment for acne scars.

But does it really work? How and what are the options? If you're considering getting light therapy for yourself, we break down everything you need to know about this skin therapy as well as LED light therapy benefits to look out for.

What is LED Light Therapy?

Light Emitting Diode (LED) light therapy is a skin treatment that uses skin-safe, low-level light in different wavelengths and in different colours, the most common being red and blue. There are other colours to look out for as well, all of which work by using these different wavelengths of light from the light emitting diodes to trigger the skin's natural healing processes to repair the skin.

Light therapy treatments do not contain any ultraviolet rays, making them safe to use even regularly. Compared to other anti-aging treatments like chemical peels, dermabrasion, and laser therapy, light therapy doesn't cause burns and is generally safe for all skin colours and types.

 

What are The Benefits of LED Light Therapy?

LED light therapy is great at repairing various skin issues such as:

It also helps promotes healthier skin and boost the skin's natural healing process by doing the following:

When done correctly and as directed, LED light therapy can improve your skin over time although you will need to have maintenance treatments to maintain the results.

What Types of LED Lights and Skincare Solutions are Available?

There are various types of LED lights and colours that offer various skincare solutions, each one with their own benefits:

Red LED Light

Red LED light therapy helps stimulate your skin cells and stimulate collagen production, all of which are important parts of skin recovery, including promoting wound healing. It also tightens skin, reduces wrinkles and fine lines, and makes skin smoother and softer too. ‌

Red LED lights when combined together with Blue LED light to form pink light, also helps ease inflammation and redness.‌

 

Infrared LED Light

Infrared LED light is a lot like the Red LED light, except it's less visible and feels warmer. This is because the wavelength in an infrared light is longer than the wavelength of a red light, making infrared penetrate deeper into your skin. It's also why infrared light therapy benefits are similar to the red light therapy, but it's also quite different.

The differences include pain relief, increased circulation and blood flow, weight loss, detoxification, improved sleep, relaxation, skin rejuvenation and more!

 

Near Infrared LED Light (NIR)

Near Infrared Light Treatment (NIR) can penetrate even deeper into the body, which is why it's more commonly used to solve issues involving deeper tissues and organs and help with issues like pain relief, arthritis-related joint pain and stiffness, cellulite, immune health and more.

In terms of skincare, NIR light often works alongside the Red LED light which can help lower redness and inflammation in psoriasis. In fact, one study has shown that this combination helped lower psoriasis pimples and plaques, or red, itchy, scaly sores.

 

Blue LED Light

Blue lights don't have a good reputation in general as it’s known to cause strained eyes and sleep disruption but blue LED light therapy for skin isn't the same thing.

Blue LED light therapy is often used to treat acne as it targets the sebaceous glands, which are also called oil glands. Studies have shown blue light can kill bacteria causing acne, as well as stop your hair follicles from becoming clogged as this causes acne. Blue light therapy also purifies the skin and helps soothe inflammation.

 

Green LED Light

Green LED light is well known for having a calming effect on the skin, particularly for its anti-inflammatory properties that help calm and soothe the skin. This then helps to lighten hyper-pigmentation spots that lead to a brighter complexion.

It’s because of this that Green Light LED facial therapy is well known to treat skin issues like dilated capillaries, sagging skin around the eyes, and help lighten the skin for issues like under eye circles, hyperpigmentation as well as sun spots.

 

How Do I Prepare For LED Light Therapy?

Regardless of where you're doing your light therapy, be it at home or in-office, you must ensure your skin is clean and without makeup before using the LED light therapy devices. Be sure to wash your face with a gentle cleanser that doesn't irritate your skin and also have your safety goggles ready to protect your eyes from the light. You may also be required to apply gels or lotions during the treatment.

 

What Can I Expect From LED Light Therapy?

LED light therapy requires you to follow their treatment plans thoroughly or else you either don't see the results or your skin reverts back to how it was.

With in-office LED light therapy you will need to take up to 10 sessions or more, with each session spaced between a week apart. Results will be more noticeable once you've completed all sessions. After which, it's best to go back for maintenance treatments every few months or as recommended.

For Home LED treatments, you will need to use it on a more daily basis as the light frequencies aren’t as high which means results will not be as dramatic. But this also means it's easier and safer to use. Just remember to follow the manufacturer's instructions for best results!

As LED light therapy is noninvasive, you don't need to worry about recovery time as you should be able to go about your daily activities once treatment is over.

 

Is LED Light Therapy Better Than Other Procedures?

There are many options you can go about treating your skin issues, but let’s compare between some of the most common beauty procedures and face light therapy.

Microneedling vs Light Therapy

Both microneedling and LED light therapy are used to heal certain types of cosmetic concerns like acne scarring.

The difference is that LED light therapy uses different colour lights to treat various skin conditions while Microneedling is a more mechanical method, creating thousands of tiny channels of injury all over a treatment area to promote wound healing. This results in collagen regeneration and skin turnover.

But microneedling tends to focus on surface skin conditions, while LED light therapy can address deeper skin issues to help with formation of new blood vessels and tissues. Still, some specialists recommend combining both treatments for better results.

 

At-Home LED Light Therapy vs In-Office Therapy

In-Office Therapy means the LED light therapy is done in a professional setting with more high-tech equipment that can only be used by professionals.

At home LED devices are less strong in comparison and mainly utilise LED red light, LED blue light, or a combination of the two. Even so, they're a lot more convenient and are a lot more affordable in the long run. It can be used daily, with some tools coming in the form of masks that cover your whole face, while others offer a more targeted treatment. 

 

How Do I Have At Home LED Light Therapy?

There are some great At Home LED devices you can consider using, each with their own different lights and benefits.

CELLRETURN LED Mask Platinum

The CELLRETURN LED Mask Platinum is the best face mask beauty device utilising light therapy treatment to address a variety of skin concerns including mild to moderate acne issues, especially since it covers the entire face.

This award-winning LED Mask has been endorsed by famous Korean celebrities like Lee Min Ho. It comes with 1026 LEDs with an effective wavelength output similar to RF, so it has the ability to penetrate skin deeper to treat the skin. If you wonder about the secrets to glowing skin, this light therapy device is it with the pink, blue and red light therapy at your disposal!

Colour LEDs used: Red, Blue, Pink, NIR

Skin solutions:

How to use:

Dr Arrivo Zeus II

The Dr. Arrivo Zeus II is a popular skincare device and facial lifting tool by Artistic & Co. that uses patented Mid-frequency Interval Pulse (MFIP), Electrical Muscle Stimulation (EMS), Radio Frequency (RF) and LED therapy that overall helps improve skin resilience, skin firmness, brightens skin, improve wrinkles, and even enhance absorption of skincare products. This beauty device is ideally paired with your best anti aging skin care products for 40s and above.

Colour LEDs Used: Red, Blue, Green

Skin Solutions:

How to use:

Miss Arrivo The Wraith

The Wraith is part of the "Miss Arrivo" series from Artistic & Co. that offers not just LED therapy but also other features that help remove accumulated dirt or dead skin, regenerate collagen, skin tightening, reduce wrinkles, and even face contouring! This is one of the combination red, green and blue light therapy devices that is worth investing for a powerful skin care routine.

Colour LEDs used: Red, Blue, Green

Skin Solutions:

How to use:

What Are The Risks and Effects of LED Light Therapy?

It's definitely safe to use LED light therapy at home. While you may be concerned of possible issues like radiation injury and thermal energy that could lead to burns, none of this is possible with LED as it is not a form of radiation and neither does it emit enough energy to burn your skin or even discolour it. As long as the device is used correctly and certified, it’s safe to use.

LED Light Therapy Is Worth It

Done correctly with the right tools, LED light therapy can do wonders for your skin. It’s always great to be able to do it at home as it’s a lot easier and convenient, but remember to buy such tools from reputable and certified sources as you do not want to risk getting bad quality devices that can badly affect your skin!

 

Which is why for the best in beauty devices, check out BeautyFoo Mall where we’re always on track with the latest beauty care trends to help you achieve the best skin care. We're also the exclusive authorised distributor of Dualsonic (Korea), Cellreturn (Korea), DPC (Korea), Artistic & Co. (Japan), Belega (Japan), Silk'n & etc in Malaysia!

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