Acne blue light therapy
I have had my share of doubts regarding acne “cure” and blue
light therapy. A skeptic at first, with more than 20 years
experience as an acne-sufferer, I scheduled an appointment at a
skin clinic in LA. It cost me $100 for that
session, but impressively, it works!
The blue light waves apparently are supposed to kill
bacteria that live in your skin, and likely are implicated in
promoting acne and pore clogging and inflammation.
Better yet, I learned that there is also a red wave light
that can stimulate collagen production in the skin
simultaneously with the blue light. The technician that
told me this was above 45 and didn’t look it. She
claimed it was due to the ‘red light” treatments.
Since this was in LA, I cannot be completely sure of this
statement. Botox likely was also helping her skin stay supple
and wrinkle-free. I guess I’m a cynical. But you’d have to be,
after years of using several acne medications, with limited
results.
That’s why I tell you this blue/red light idea is
impressive. I calculated how much it’d cost me to actually
frequent this posh skin clinic and figured out I couldn’t do it
without some serious strain. A better deal ended up being
purchasing a light unit for myself to use in the comfort of my
own home. And voila, that turned out to be a great idea.
The light I got was around $100 at the time,
although nowadays (4 years later) it’s probably like
$150. Still worth its weight in gold, since it
actually works. The combination of red and blue lights actually
works to enhance skin tone and kill acne-causing bacteria. The
blue light reduces bacterial infections and red light aids
wound healing, so that any ‘scabs’ present may heal more
quickly.
The combo of lights takes 10-15 min of exposure
everyday. If you’d like, you could do every other day
or even once per week. They give you a little mask or sun
goggles to protect your eyes. Also, a nice feature is the
ionizer, which works together with the timer feature to push
out clean air. You feel ionized and highly pampered, relieving
stress in the process.
You can use this therapy together with your other therapies,
and they claim the lights do not sensitize skin treated with
antibiotics, or do not sensitze you to the effects of the sun.
In my case, I also use a mild salicylic acid wash
(Biore) and 5% benzoyl peroxide gel.
This combination does not seem to react adversely with the
light treatments. I notice an increase in skin tone from one
light session and don’t need to do it everyday. Even from once
a week you will see positive results. I don’t know if the
lights react with other therapies, like retin A or others. So I
can’t claim I’ve tried all combinations, but I know with
salicylic acid and benzoyl peroxide it seems ok.
Don’t do botox! Do the red/blue lights, seriously!
2010 Acne blue light
therapy
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