Kayla Young
Do you suffer from signs of aging: wrinkles or severely blemished skin? Perhaps you spent too much time in a tanning bed earlier in life? If so, you’ve probably tried various methods to help eliminate those wrinkles, such as with lotions or essential oils. You may not yet have tried light therapy, though. In fact, this treatment is one of the best ways to tackle wrinkles. Light therapy is safe, non-interventional , and often works fast at removing wrinkles and fine lines.
It also can help with restoring your skin cells which can prevent the development of future wrinkles. In this article, we’ll go into the details on how to use Light Therapy for Wrinkles, and you can find out more information about these treatments and the benefits it offers.
Contents
What Causes Wrinkles?
Wrinkles can be caused by many different factors. These factors include age, extended exposure to UV light, extreme tanning, smoking, and even certain facial movements. These factors cause wrinkles because they reduce the elasticity in your skin, age your skin faster, and reduce the blood circulation in your face.
All of these can lead to fine lines and more intense creases in your skin. And once you’ve got them, they are difficult to get rid of!
What is Light Therapy?
Light therapy, also known as heliotherapy, uses different light beams, such as red and blue, to help reduce inflammation, stress, and other similar things that can hurt your skin’s health. By shining light on areas of concern, it can encourage the production of collagen and even help keep your skin hydrated.
The Benefits of Using Light Therapy for Wrinkles
There are many benefits to light therapy. Many salons, spas, and dermatologists are incorporating these systems into their offerings. If you happen to be a member of Planet Fitness, many of their locations feature Planet Fitness Red Light Therapy stations, and you can often use these at low cost to try it out.
And of course, many manufacturers are making professional-quality light therapy devices for home use. You can use the best light therapy for the face to help reduce wrinkles and signs of aging.
These devices must be FDA approved, so there is oversight.
Below are some advantages you’ll discover if you use these systems.
It Increases Collagen in Your Skin
No products found.Collagen is an important protein in the skin as it helps to keep it firm yet flexible. As you age or expose your skin to large levels of UV rays, collagen production can decrease. Light therapy helps to prevent this as it encourages your skin to produce more collagen.
It may sound strange, but what light therapy does is essential to cause mild damage to the skin. This harm causes the body to react to produce new collagen, which shows up as reduced wrinkles and lines.
These systems can be mildly painful during the procedures. But they can make wrinkles fade and eventually disappear, and also prevent new ones from forming.
By shining certain frequencies of light (typically red and/or blue light) on your skin, light therapy devices can help your body produce collagen while protecting your skin from further damage.
It Can Encourage Better Blood Circulation
By heating your skin, it can encourage your body to have better circulation in the area that is being exposed to heat. In fact, the amount of blood moving toward the heated source is often compared to the amount of blood circulation in your body when you exercise. Because of this, it helps your body to build more facial muscles which can keep your skin firm.
It Can Clean Your Skin
In addition to helping your skin look youthful, light therapy can also keep your skin clean. It does this by destroying bacteria on your skin that might cause irritations and blemishes. It also works to remove dead skin cells which can cause your skin to look dull.
After a few tries, you’ll find your skin not only glows, but is very smooth as well.
There are some devices, such as the LightStim for Acne, that are specifically designed around acne treatments, however, many of the light therapy treatments that are designed to tackle wrinkles don’t have the right LED wavelengths to work for acne.
Some systems like Light Therapy Masks do provide overlap, though they may be less successful than a particular dedicated device.
What to Consider Before Using Light Therapy for Wrinkles
Before you use light therapy for wrinkles, you’ll want to keep a few things in mind. Below are some important aspects to consider.
How Quickly it Works
Unlike lotions which might take a few months before you start to see results, light therapy will give you results within a few weeks. This makes it perfect for those who want quick results.
However, depending on the light therapy method you use, sometimes it might take a bit of time.
This is especially so if you plan to use home light therapy devices. Because of this, it’s a good idea to consider how quickly your light therapy sessions will work to ensure you get results when you want them.
Pain from Light Therapy
Depending on the system you choose, you should be prepared to experience some pain and discomfort, especially at the beginning of your treatment.
As mentioned above, some of these devices work by causing intentional harm to the body with the intention of causing the body to generate new collagen to treat the damage.
This translates into some pain to start with.
After a few sessions, the pain typically goes away, but you should be prepared for this before you dive in.
If You Use Medications
Sometimes certain medications can interact negatively with light therapy and could result in rashes or other signs of an allergic reaction. To help prevent this, make sure to talk things over with your doctor if you use medications to ensure that light therapy is safe to use on your skin.
The Cost
The more powerful the light therapy session is, the more expensive it will be. You’ll need to consider the cost of the therapy to make sure it will match your budget.
FDA Approval
The FDA does approve individual light therapy devices and specific wavelengths to treat specific ailments. Each of the items we discuss in this article is approved by the FDA.
How Light Therapy for Wrinkles is Done
No products found.If you choose to get your light therapy at a salon, your esthetician will use a device that is connected to a small laser. Inside this laser are various LED lights which range in various red and blue shades.
Your specialist will usually require you to sit in a chair while they run the lights over your face for about 20 minutes. You will probably need about 10 sessions before significant results are seen.
On the other hand, if you plan to use a light therapy device in your home, you might be required to wear a mask for a few minutes or run a wand over your face in certain ways.
These devices don’t usually give instant results and require several weeks of treatment before improvements are seen.
Other Important Aspects to Keep in Mind
Eye Protection
There are a few other things you’ll need to keep in mind before having light therapy for wrinkles sessions done. For instance, when you are using light therapy for wrinkles, many of the systems require you to wear protective goggles.
These will protect your eyes from the bright lights which could otherwise cause damage to them.
You may want to combine light therapy with an eye cream for wrinkles.
Makeup
You want to make sure to also never wear makeup when having light therapy done. Makeup will prevent the light from fully working on your skin and could even cause irritation.
Note that some find benefit in using serums in combination with light therapy.
Home Light Therapy for Wrinkles
There are several outstanding products that are available for at-home wrinkle treatments. We’ll give a brief look at a few of these options here.
DPL II Light Therapy Panel
No products found.The DPL II Light Therapy Panel is one of the most powerful anti-wrinkle systems on the market. We looked at the DPL II in depth here.
No products found.
Tria Age-Defying Laser
The Tria Smooth Beauty Laser may sting a little bit when you first start using it, but it does deliver. Tria backs up their system with scientific evidence, as we discussed in this review, and they found that users of their laser had a positive experience with it. Pain became almost unnoticeable after a few days, but the benefits of this hot little unit on the skin were clear for long after!
Trophy Skin RejuvaliteMD
No products found.The TrophySkin Rejuvalite is one of the most popular light therapy devices available. This FDA-approved device uses a carefully-chosen mixture of red, yellow, amber, and infra-red LED wavelengths to treat skin. It will smooth wrinkles, soften lines, and fill out the skin to erase signs of aging.
The system works pretty well, though beware that the included protective glasses don’t work too well. You may want to pick up some tanning goggles to use instead of the included glasses.
No products found.
PulsaDerm Red Light Therapy Device
PulsaDerm’s red light therapy wand is in some ways similar to the Tria Beauty Laser. You have to hold it in your hand for the whole time, which some users may find annoying. And you move it around your skin to expose it to the lightwaves.
But the PulsaDerm doesn’t typically cause any pain or discomfort, unlike the Tria. It is FDA approved, and provides effective red light therapy for wrinkles.
Conclusion
If you’re on the search for a way to help remove and prevent wrinkles, definitely consider using light therapy. It uses strong red and blue lightwaves to help smooth out your skin and encourage collagen production in it.
Because of this, it’s a powerful natural skincare method to consider using if you want to keep your skin free from wrinkles and fine lines.
