It’s no secret that glowing skin needs a lot of work and commitment. Throw in kids, a career and juggling life and it can all feel too much.
Although what if we told you that there’s a simple skin treatment that’s quick, painless, effective and can bring life back into lacklustre or tired skin? Because there is. In fact, it’s not really that big a secret anymore and is one not only used by celebrities and models the world over to get ready for big events and red carpet season. It is also one that is slowly getting more and more mainstream. Yes, we’re talking about LED light therapy. Dr R Glen Calderhead, Vice President Medicoscientific Affairs. Lutronic Corporation, describes LED light therapy as a noninvasive light treatment that can penetrate the skin and target different concerns depending on the colour that is used.
“If a cell is damaged or compromised it can be repaired. If the cell has a job to do, LED Light Therapy can help it do it better and in cases where there are not enough cells for the skin to do the job that is required to do, more cells can be recruited in.”
Hence, why a LED light treatment can be used to treat a whole range of skin conditions and is exceptionally good at general rejuvenation – or giving your skin a pep talk when it isn’t feeling it’s best. However, that’s not all. You see, if we start getting down to the nitty gritty of the different treatment light methods you’ll soon discover that LED light therapy can treat a whole range of conditions or work synergistically within clinic treatments too. “Blue light kills bacteria and helps the quality of the skin barrier function. The red light is the best light for general skin rejuvenation. And the near-infrared (near IR) head, often mistakenly called the ‘yellow head’, can be used to assist a whole range of conditions including basic photo rejuvenation.” Essentially then, now we know that LED light therapy is great at diminishing inflammation, detoxifying and brightening the skin and can help treat your annoying breakouts as well. And when our babies steal our glow or keep us up at night? LED light therapy can help stimulate collagen and elastin to help return a once youthful complexion. Plus, there’s no downtime. In fact, Dr Calderhead says popping on an LED treatment after a simple clinical treatment such as laser, microdermabrasion, microneedling or IPL can “reduce the downtime associated with energy based devices used in skin rejuvenation and skin tightening treatments – and even give you faster results!”
And if you haven’t been sleeping? Dr Calderhead adds that LED light therapy is something to consider treating yourself to, especially if your sleeplessness is stress related.
“Stress induces high levels of the stress hormones, especially cortisol, norepinepherine and epinephrine. When applied over the base of the skull and neck, the near-IR head can calm down the response to these hormones, slow down elevated pulse rates and even remove stress-related headaches. It can also help induce parasympathetic dominance, the “rest and relax” nervous system, so that blood vessels expand, and muscles relax.” “LED light therapy can bring on a feeling of well-being, and patients being treated with the near-IR head almost always fall asleep before the treatment has completed, even those patients undergoing a photo-rejuvenation session,” Dr Calderhead says Although we do have to state that while the popularity of LED light therapy treatments is on the rise, at home devices aren’t anywhere near as strong as those you’d find in a clinic and Dr Calderhead warns us that many of those being sold for at home use “don’t offer wave lengths that can be particularly useful.” If you are interested, a quick LED treatment can take anywhere between 10-20 minutes, which is an amazing option when you’re run down or time poor. So whether you’ve not been sleeping, need something to refresh your complexion, have an event coming up or generally just want to revive tired skin, take a look at LED light therapy…because it’s no longer a celebrity only secret.