What Is Light Therapy, and Is it Right for You?
Light therapy is a relatively new cosmetic dermatology service for a lot of patients like you. If you’ve heard of light therapy and you want to know how it can help you, we have the answers. Here’s what you need to know about light therapy and whether it’s right for you.
What to Know About Light Therapy
What Is Light Therapy?
Light therapy is, as the name suggests, a form of skin treatment that uses light rays. This form of skin therapy includes treatment tools like LED light, UV light, and even laser therapy to treat a number of different skin conditions. To speak to one form this treatment takes, LED (light emitting diodes) has been around for longer than you think, and it doesn’t have any origins in skincare if you can believe that! In fact, this light therapy was originally developed by NASA when a team of researchers discovered that LED light could actually help aid the wound healing process in outer space. Today, that very same technology has been improved to serve as a wound healing aid during cosmetic dermatology procedures. LED light therapy for vitiligo is also a common use of this technology.
How Does Light Therapy Help Skin?
As we touched on above, light therapy is a viable treatment option for a number of different skin issues. Though light therapy has also been used outside of the dermatology industry to treat depression and seasonal affective disorder, let’s talk about how light therapy can help your skin. First and foremost, light therapy can be used to help improve skin texture and even to treat enlarged oil glands. This particular benefit is helpful for patients suffering from acne. Light therapies have been used to reduce redness, treat hyperpigmentation, and even help reduce wrinkles in some instances. There are different light therapies for different skin conditions, too.
Red Light Therapy
Red light therapy is most often used as part of anti-aging treatments and to soothe skin inflammation. If your goal is to get rid of fine lines or manage your rosacea, this is the best light therapy treatment option to consider. In addition, red light therapy may help stimulate hair growth if you’re suffering from alopecia.
Blue Light Therapy
Blue light therapy is most commonly used to treat active acne. Blue light not only focuses on the skin’s oil glands and helps shrink them, but it also kills one of the forms of bacteria that’s responsible for acne on the surface of the skin. If your biggest woe is acne, blue light therapy may be right for you. Blue light therapy can also be part of treatment plans for precancerous spots on the skin.
Laser Treatments
From laser tattoo removal to laser stretch mark treatments, this therapy is used for a wide variety of skin issues. If acne scarring is something you’re struggling with, a laser therapy session may be able to help minimize the appearance of your scars and help correct some hyperpigmentation.
When it comes to light therapy, there are countless conditions it can help with. If you think you’d be a good candidate for light therapy, contact SE Dermatology Specialists today.