Blue Light Therapy for acne?
I am considering blue light therapy for acne, but I have a few questions about it. How often do you need the treatment to keep acne away? once a month? Once a week? Also, how effective is it? I've heard you can get the same results from a tanning bed, but that scares me because I don't want to damage my skin the same way a tanning bed would! Is it true that blue LED treatments are just the same as the UV rays in tanning salons?
NOTE: If you are going to suggest any over the counter or prescription acne medicine PLEASE DO NOT bother!!!! If I wanted to know about Proactive, I would ASK a question about it!!! Save your time and only answer if you know about what I'm asking about! I want to know ONLY about Blue and red light acne therapy. You will NOT get points for an unrelated answer!
July 31st, 2010 - 04:06
I’ll try to answer all of your questions :
How often : it depends of your acne stage, and what kind of light therapy session you want to get : from your home, using a light therapy device, or at a skin care clinic or dermatologist.
- From home, you can have from 4 treatments a week upto one treatment per day, these are short treatments, between 3 to 6 minutes per area.
- At a skin care professional’s office, once a week or only once a month. This is because their equipment is more powerful, however the cost of sessions could be very expensive.
How effective : You may see improvements from the first week of your home light therapy device use (consider 1 month of use), as well as from the first session at a professional office. However you will certainly need more treatment to keep acne away as long as possible. And just like the previous answerer said, 7 to 8 treatments are required for optimal results.
LED vs UV : LED Light treatments and UV rays are totally different. You’re right that it could damage your skin, and UV could actually worsen your acne, that’s why you may have heard about being careful of sun exposure when having acne. The wavelenghts of the lights are differents, lower for UV. LED light therapy can also use infrared lights, which are invisible, because of a higher wavelenghts, these are safe.
Studies have shown upto 90% success with light therapy treatments. Don’t use UV rays in tanning salons to treat your acne !
Also, for acne red light therapy can also be considered as it heals and renews skin cells. This helps to reduce scaring for example. Some light therapy devices emit both blue and red light. Cost vary between $160 and $400.
Hope this helps !
July 31st, 2010 - 04:06
I think at least 7 treatments are needed. There should be this info on their website. You may need treatments once every few months after you initial treatments.