Red & Blue Light Therapy For Acne Treatment At Home

What Is Red & Blue Light Therapy

Red light therapy was developed by NASA because weightlessness in space was causing bone and muscle loss in the astronauts. Also, weightlessness was preventing minor injuries from healing.

NASA’s light therapy was so successful that scientists and doctors all over the world started using it.

NASA’s light therapy is also used to reduce the side effects caused by the radiation and chemotherapy treatments used on cancer patients.

Another use of NASA’s light therapy is to promote the growth of plants in space. It also works just as well in your house.

Does Blue Light Therapy Work For Acne?

First, blue light therapy is used as a replacement for antibiotics to kill off the bacteria that causes acne.

The bacteria Propionibacterium acnes, which is usually shortened to P. acnes, lives at the bottom of the hair follicle where it eats sebum. When the sebaceous gland produces more sebum, because of increased hormones or stress, then the P. acnes bacteria has more food to eat and it multiplies.

P. acnes produces a substance that causes an irritation to your skin tissues. Then your immune system tries to fight off the irritation which causes inflammation. The end result is the hair follicle gets plugged up and the pimple forms.

So, we use the blue light therapy to kill off the P. acnes bacteria, and the red-light therapy to reduce the inflammation and to speed up the healing of the skin.

Benefits Of Blue Light Therapy For Acne

• Easy and safe to do at home. Although you should always check with your doctor first (especially if you are pregnant).

• Gentle and painless.

• It can be used on all parts of your body – even where the sun doesn’t shine.

• Works well with most, but not all, other acne treatments.

• You can do it on your time schedule – not when the dermatologist has time to see you.

• There are no UV rays to worry about.

Is Red & Blue Light Therapy Safe To Use?

Yes, it has been proven safe to use by NASA and thousands of scientific studies.
Red light therapy is so safe that it has been approved by the FDA to treat skin conditions, slow-to-heal injuries, joint pain, anti-aging, the reduction of wrinkles, and pain relief.

Many other scientific studies have shown red light therapy to be effective in treating numerous other health issues. Such as mood disorders and sleeplessness.

Here is a study where people with acne were treated with a high intensity blue light twice per week for five weeks. The result was a 64% reduction of acne symptoms.

Another study that used a blue wavelength of 420nm for two treatments per week over a period of four weeks, which reduced acne lesions by almost 65%.

In a red and blue light therapy study, a 414nm blue light and a 660nm red light was used to treat acne.

The treatment was 15 minutes per day for 12 weeks. There was a 76% improvement. Which was better than using only blue light or only using benzoyl peroxide.

So, here we have evidence that red and blue light therapy for acne is clearly effective at reducing acne symptoms.

Benefits Of Red Light Therapy For Acne Pimples

There are many benefits to using red light therapy which I talk about in another one of my articles.

The main benefit of red-light therapy for acne is that it reduces inflammation. In other words, it reduces the size of your zit or pimple. That means you’ll look better, and you will also have less pain and discomfort.

Red light therapy also increases the health of your skin cell’s mitochondria so that they produce more energy for your skin cells to use. That means that your skin will heal faster, and will stay healthy. The end result is that you have fewer clogged hair follicles and that leads to fewer pimples.

The energy produced by the mitochondria is called ATP (Adenosine triphosphate) which is also used to create more collagen and elastin.

Collagen and elastin are essential to keeping your skin looking soft and young looking. Which is why red-light therapy is used to remove wrinkles.

Another benefit of red light is better blood circulation. Better circulation provides more oxygen and other nutrients to your skin cells, and to your lymph system. The lymph system is responsible for removing toxins and other impurities from your skin. Which means that those toxins can’t clog up your hair follicles and cause more acne.

Red And Blue Light Therapy For Cystic Acne And Hormonal Acne

Here again the blue light kills the P. acnes bacteria and the red light reduces skin inflammation. Continual use of red-light therapy can create less skin sensitivity to increased hormone levels during monthly periods or during pregnancy.

If you are pregnant, be sure to check with your doctor before using any type of light therapy.

Red And Blue Light Therapy For Acne Scars

I am not aware of any blue light benefits for acne scars. However, red light is beneficial for preventing and removing acne scars.

IMHO a scar is the result of poor healing. Therefore, since red light therapy improves skin cell health, your acne should heal faster and more completely. That means you’ll produce fewer acne scars.

Likewise, when your skin cells are super charged with energy from your mitochondria, the skin cells are able to repair the damaged skin tissue we call scars.

Blue And Red Light Therapy For Acne Side Effects & Other Risks

There are some very minor side effects that you might encounter while using blue or red-light therapy.

• You may have dryer skin, because the light therapy reduces the amount of oil your skin produces.

• Redness and minor swelling of the skin is also possible when using laser light therapy. However, that should not occur when using LED light therapy.

• Anyone who is sensitive to light, because of the rare disease called porphyria should NOT use blue or red-light therapy.

• Also, people suffering from lupus should not be using blue light therapy.

• Do not use blue light therapy when using Accutane or other medications that include isotretinoin. This is because isotretinoin makes your skin more sensitive to light.

Use Blue Light Treatment For Acne At Home Instead Of Going To The Dermatologist’s Office

Blue light therapy for acne is all about killing the bacteria that causes the acne to break out.

Blue light is used by dermatologists when other treatments don’t work. IMHO, they use the less effective methods first, because they make more money that way.

When their standard prescriptions don’t work so well, or the side-effects are too much, they know you will be happy to pay for blue light therapy too.

Part of the equation is that light therapy for acne is not usually paid for by a health insurance plan.

Most people want their health insurance to pay for their treatments. Which means they have to settle for taking antibiotics, birth control medicine or other chemicals that the dermatologist can prescribe.

Who wants another prescription and all of the side-effects they cause?

Well, probably nobody. So, the dermatologist will offer you blue light therapy for acne treatments in his office.

He will charge you between $40 and $60 per treatment and you are going to need eight treatments over a four-week period. That means you have to drive to the dermatologist’s office 8 times, get undressed, get treated for 15-30 minutes, get dressed again, and drive home or back to work again.

So, you can expect to pay between $320-$480 to clear up your pizza face, back acne or butt acne, all the while knowing you will have to come back and start all over again.

For about $20-$400 you can buy a red and blue light acne therapy device you can use at home. No side-effects, no driving to the dermatologist’s office, and no more extra fees.

The Trophy Skin RejuvaliteMD Anti Aging Red LED Light Therapy Beauty Device shown below comes with the stand. The next blue light device does not have a stand, but can be used with the stand from the previous red light device by the same manufacturer.

Another article I have written is called: LED Light Therapy For Acne Kills Zits And Heals The Skin

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