Using Light Therapy to Fight Acne
Oh acne, we meet again. Rather, you never really left, and you stress me out even more than before so my hormones produce even more acne.
Light therapy can be done at a dermatologist’s office, spa, or in your own home. (Photo: lighttherapydevice.com)
I know many of you can relate with my feelings. I am always trying out new things or reading up on things that interest me for my acne-prone skin. The hundreds of dollars I have paid to my dermatologists since becoming a teenager prove that acne is a pesky little thing that not one treatment is going to get rid of it. Different seasons bring different types acne, too, and I am exhausted from all the products I have tried.
Well, I have started to look into light therapy for acne. I tried sunlight therapy for my depressive years when I was younger, but that never really worked. So I figured my DNA was just not receptive to light and therapy working together. That is a thing too, by the way, how vitamin D helps boost mood as does light therapy, which carries vitamin D from the light it emits.
There are different colors of light therapy. The most popular ones readily available are red and blue for your skin. (Photo: alibaba.com)
There are many different types of light therapy in the beauty world today, more specifically light therapy that you can get from your local spa. The way light therapy works is that a specific color is used to treat specific symptoms. Blue light is targeted to kill excess bacteria on your skin that produce acne. It helps to eradicate clogged pores, relieving your skin of that ugly, little, bright red dot in the middle of your forehead. At least that is one of my trouble spots, anyway.
Red light therapy is made for skin that is dry and getting older since it helps boost collagen production. My skin is starting to get really dry this year and needs a boost of anything to reenergize it. Light therapy is recommended weekly up to 3 weeks before an event or for whatever you might need to look presentable. Other then that, you can do light therapy on your skin once a month and do maintenance treatments at home with those light therapy masks, such as the Neutrogena Acne Light Therapy Mask, the one Lena Dunham famously wore last December. It is not as potent as an in office visit, but helps your office visit work as best as possible once you are out of the office or spa and back on your comfy sofa catching up on Stranger Things Season 2. You would actually look quite appropriate with the mask on watching the hit Netflix sci-fi series.
Light therapy sessions can cost anywhere from $120-$320 and have given positive results to everyone I know who uses them. Although I have anxiety about laying down while a woman in a white lab coat points colored lasers in my face, I have been assured that my only role is to lie there and relax. Sessions last anywhere from 15-30 minutes, so I think I might be able to handle it. My girlfriend even says she likes the feeling of the blue light on her face, it relaxes her.
The only known side effects from red and blue light therapy to the skin are redness and slight flaking of the skin. You never know if something will truly work for your skin unless you try it out yourself.
Check out Volta Esthetics and Massage Lab in Georgetown for a facial combined with light therapy and relaxing scents and sounds. A trained estetchician will recommend a treatment plan that is best for you.
I have my appointment next week. Wish me luck and also wish that my acne-prone face will look immediately brighter with less visible acne scarring. Who knows, light therapy could finally be the treatment that keeps your acne at bay.
Born and raised in the DMV, Emma Blancovich has a big appreciation for discovering things to do around town, such as new restaurants to try and supporting the local music scene by attending live shows. During the week she is an editor for trade associations, but on the weekends you can find her hiking up trails with the latest fitness gadgets then getting ready for a night out using the latest beauty and health products.
