Light Therapy for Skin and Acne Help yourself look Better, look Younger, Naturally, with www.Lightsoundtechnology.com, where we combine light therapy and sound therapy to help the body and mind with our skin issues, pain relief, stress relief,anti-aging,a a host of other modalities. Our Well Beam and our Skin Rejuvenation Kit are great compliments. It’s a fact, light therapy for skin is an effective skin care treatment. Professionals such as dermatologists and spas are using the technology as an anti-aging or acne solution. There have been studies that have shown that up to 90% of people see improvements of their skin condition, it became inevitable that home use devices would be created from the professional technology and equipment you can find at dermatologists or skin care centers. So what light therapy can do for your skin ? As we said earlier, light therapy (for skin) is mainly used to treat aging and acne. It is very common to see that red light therapy is associated with anti-aging and blue light therapy to fight acne. Red Light Rejuvenates Your Skin In the anti-aging process, what is important is the collagen production, and red light therapy stimulates the collagen production. Collagen is responsible for the elasticity and firmness of your skin, resulting in the reduction of fine lines and wrinkles. The collagen is also the protein that repair damaged skin cells. You look younger and have a healthier skin. Blue Light Kills Acne The blue light therapy kills the Propionibacterium acnes bacteria. This bacteria is one of the cause of acne, and is sensitive to light in a certain range (405 to 420 nm). The bacteria absorbs the light and the light kills the bacteria. Acne vanishes as a result. Because red light is more the “healing light”, it is also used for acne : it reduces the inflammation caused by acne, reduces scarring and sebum and oil production. You look better, your skin is clear. Born From NASA Research The LED light therapy technology has been researched by NASA, not just for skin problems, but also to fight cancer, for pain relief purpose and even to grow plants. Light therapy is also used for affective disorders, sleep disorders, to boost energy, but this is not the same kind of light. We would just want to warn you : because this technology has been researched by NASA doesn’t mean your device is equipped with the exact same technology. So yes, light therapy devices are actually “based on a technology researched by NASA” but when you see products advertised with some “NASA” words, this is just a bit of marketing only. Of course, this is still LED light therapy, and light therapy devices you will find on this website have all proven to be effective. Where is Light Therapy Used Light therapy has found many uses in different areas. For example, it is used to treat a variety of skin diseases and it is used to treat mood and sleep related disorders as well. Let us have a look at the various places where light therapy is being used. Acne: It has been known since a long time that sunlight helps cure the bacteria which cause acne. The visible violet light which is present in the sunlight activates a porphyrin that damages and kills the bacteria which cause acne. And this process does not cause any tanning or sunburn. However, during the course of this treatment, it is important to protect the eyes from the light as this may be harmful to the chemicals in the retina. This treatment has proved to be more effective than Benzoyl Peroxide which is often used to possibly cure acne. Psoriasis: One of the common problems of people suffering with psoriasis is skin inflammation. Narrow band ultra violet B rays are given as a light therapy on the skin surface which is inflamed. The ultra violet rays help suppress the inflammation on the skin. Psoriasis Wound Healing: It has been found that infrared light releases nitrous oxide in the blood stream which increases the circulation of blood in the area where the light is directed. This is very helpful for people, who due to various diseases such as Diabetes find it very difficult to heal wounds on the surface of the skin. This is also helpful for patients suffering with Neuropathy, Ulcers and for patients whose blood circulation is improper. Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD): People with seasonal affective disorder go into depression like states during the winter months. This is seen in places where the amount of daylight is very less in these seasons (countries near the North Pole, for instance). The cure for these people is full sunlight. So, light boxes which replicate sunlight conditions are used for these patients. These use artificial illumination to re-create the fully lighted atmospheric conditions that are normally present in sunlight. Depression: This is a non-seasonal kind of depression. But light therapy has shown interesting results in the treatment of such patients as well. A similar kind of treatment method is followed for treating these patients as with the people affected with SAD. The results are faster compared to the use of anti-depressants. Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome (DSPS): People suffering with Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome (DSPS) have problems sleeping and often end up falling asleep way past midnight and thus have difficulty waking up in the morning. In these cases the light must be provided as soon as the patient wakes up. Light therapy is useful for the people suffering from DSPS because it causes dawn simulation. Delayed sleep syndrome Jet Lag: It has been seen that exposing the person suffering from jet lag to light at appropriate times before, during and after the air travel can actually reduce the effects of jet lag and help the body to adjust easily to the time differences. This process has even been used by NASA to train its astronauts for late night launches. Jet Lag Heliotherapy: This is a very popular term which is used to describe light therapy, and is used in spas and such places. These places use various forms of light therapy to provide tanning beds and booths and even tanning lamps which use both ultraviolet and infrared rays of light for providing treatment to their customers. Heliotheraphy When not to use Light Therapy However advantageous light therapy may be, there are certain times when light therapy is not advisable. It has been observed that exposure to too much light can cause skin damage as well as destroying the amounts of vitamins A and C in the skin, and it can damage the generation of free radicals in the body. It is for this reason that it is said that light therapy should always be taken in the presence of a licensed practitioner, qualified doctor or dermatologist. Light therapy used for patients suffering from depression can also cause maniac states (which are the absolute opposite of depressed states) because of the mood alteration effect produced by it. As such, it can also be considered similar to taking mood-altering drugs. Hence, it is always advised to take such therapies under the consultation of a qualified medical practitioner only. In some cases, where the patient suffers from phototoxicity (light can kill the cells), or has a photosensitive skin or is taking certain medicines which can create such conditions, light therapy is not advised. Also, with patients that have a tendency towards manic behavior, light therapy is not advised. By Madhavi Ghare |