Introduction

With anti-aging, acne treatment, pain management and wound healing as a panacea, it seems that red light therapy, also known as photobiomodulation, can offer something for everyone. For us skincare fanatics, with the premise of a more even, brighter complexion, fewer wrinkles and fewer acne breakouts, who wouldn't want to glow with red, blue or green LED light?

What is Red Light Therapy?

LED red light therapy has been around for more than 30 years and was originally developed by NASA to help astronauts prevent muscle atrophy and aid tissue healing. But with such wide-ranging benefits for skin health, it is perhaps not surprising that it has found a home in the beauty industry.

As we age, our skin loses collagen and becomes less ‘elastic’. This, together with other physiological changes and environmental damage, leads to skin sagging, fine lines and wrinkles and an uneven skin tone.Red light therapy targets skin cells to help reverse the signs of ageing by stimulating collagen and elastin, alleviating redness and reducing the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.

Within the beauty industry, Aestheticians were among the first to offer LED light therapy, with treatments costing as much as £150 a session. But in more recent years, home treatment devices for LED therapy have become more common.

How does it work?

Red light therapy is thought to work by stimulating the mitochondria in your cells. Mitochondria are tiny organs in each of your cells; these subcellular organs are primarily known for being the part of the cell that produces all of the cell’s energy. They do, however, also play an important role in reducing inflammation in the cell and regulating how long the cell lives.

Red light therapy actually uses both red, visible wavelengths of light, and infrared, invisible wavelengths. The specific wavelengths that red light therapy uses are thought to be absorbed by a molecule in the mitochondria called cytochrome C oxidase.This molecule is part of the electron transport chain, a group of molecules that perform a series of chemical reactions that result in energy production in the cell. Stimulating cytochrome C oxidase is likely to improve energy output in cells and may be the primary cause of the benefits of red light therapy.

Red, Green or Blue Light – which do I need?

As a red light therapy for face are so Instagram friendly, you may have seen an array of colours for LED therapy, from red and green to blue. So, what do the different colours do?

Red light is the most popular form of LED light therapy and is used for anti-aging, treating muscle pain and various other ailments.

Green LED light is aimed at treating hyper-pigmentation.

Blue LED light is generally marketed for treating acne, although red LED light will do this just as well.

Red and Near Infra-Red – what is the difference?

Red light is the preferred colour for LED light therapy but many red light therapy devices offer red light, near infra-red light or a combination of the two. So, which one is better for skin rejuvenation or do you need both?

Red Light is within the visible light spectrum between 610 to 700 nm, with much data to support that 660-670 nm is an optimum wavelength. This wavelength is ideal to penetrate skin cells and sebaceous glands and offer benefits for skin rejuvenation, including improvements to skin tone, texture and smoothing fine lines and wrinkles. Red wavelengths of light are absorbed and used in the first 25mm of skin tissue.

Near – infrared (NIR), is not within the visible light spectrum between wavelengths of 700-1100 nm, with 830-850 nm being one of the most efficiently absorbed wavelengths.This light penetrates deeper into tissue and so is good for targeting deeper tissue layers.NIR can help increase blood circulation as well as treat muscle aches, nerve injury and joint pain.

If your only goal is to treat the surface of your skin to improve skin texture and tone and boost collagen deposition, then red LED light would be effective for this purpose, but the addition of infra-red light to stimulate blood flow to the upper layers of the skin can only be advantageous.

When should you use Red Light Therapy?

The frequency and duration of use will depend largely on the device that you choose. But either way, you do not need to invest much time on a daily basis to reap the benefits of Red Light Therapy.  

If you choose a red light therapy panel or red light therapy belt，then just 20-30 minutes per day will provide a cumulative treatment that will aid skin rejuvenation. If using a red light therapy mask, the recommended session time is usually around 15 minutes but the time to see a benefit will be considerably longer.

Conclusion

Red light therapy is a scientifically proven, non-invasive way to treat and prevent a variety of diseases. This article just shows how different colors of red light therapy have different effects on the skin and choosing the best light color to achieve a healthy.While the science behind the proposed mechanisms of action of red light therapy have yet to be fully understood, its physiological benefits are shown in study after study.