Is Light Therapy a Magic Bullet Treatment for Acne?

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I don’t think there is anyone in this world who never had to deal with acne, in fact many people have to deal with occasional pimples quite frequently. Imagine that you are up for a very important event, then suddenly your face gets invaded by acne just before the program. How will you feel? Well, almost all of us had to go through that, and there are some solutions including creams, gels, chemical peels etc. to deal with that. But among all the solutions, the light therapy kind of stands out as a quick or magic bullet solution. Visit Dermavel for  plasma pen acne removal

What is Light Therapy?

Light therapy is also called phototherapy or LED therapy, as light emitting diodes are used for it. Through this therapy, artificial light is used on your skin in order to have effect on the screen on a cellular level. Light is a kind of electromagnetic energy that comes in various wavelengths, and between ultraviolet and infrared light, there is a spectrum of visible light that is colored red, blue ,orange, green etc.

Different wavelengths of colors can affect the cells and generate inter and intra cellular reactions that can offer different therapeutic benefits for your skin. The technology of light therapy has evolved over the years and the benefits have increased and become more legitimate. Now there are home LED or lightbox devices that you can use for light therapy.

What Kind of Light Treat Acne?

Once ultraviolet light was used to treat acne, Even though UV light clears acne, it is harmful for your skin. Not only does it cause skin damage, it can also cause cancer. So Doctors have stopped using the UV light. Instead now certain wavelengths of blue light and red light are used to treat acne. Blue and red light easily kill the bacteria that caused acne, and clears the skin without any harm. But of all colors, blue light is specially considered to be the most effective action for treating acne.

How Light Therapy Works to Treat Acne

Acnes are formed in pores of your skin, which are actually really tiny holes. Each of the pores contains a gland that produces oil. This oil helps to keep your skin healthy. But sometimes dirt and dead skin cells can get trapped inside these pores along with the oil that gets depleted from your skin and clog the pores up. There are certain bacteria that live on your skin that can also get inside these blocked pores. And the bacteria make the clogged pores swell up into bumps that you know as acne.

One way to kill the bacteria and clear up the pimples is with light. The bacteria that lives in your skin are sensitive to certain types of light. When you direct these lights on your skin, toxic substances get formed and kill the bacteria causing the problems. Light therapy also helps to shrink the oil glands in the skin, so your skin will deplete less pore-clogging oil.

As mentioned earlier, the blue light is the most effective for treating acne among all other wavelengths and colors. We have seen how light therapy helps to get your acne cured, but there are reasons why specifically blue light can do it. Different mechanism of blue light help in this process and they are-

Having Antibacterial Properties

P. acne is the bacteria that causes acne on your skin. And blue light sets off a chemical reaction in your cells that eliminates these bacteria. This bacteria produces a protein called porphyrins, and when you expose this protein to blue light, a chemical reaction ensues after the protein absorbs the light. And kills the bacteria in the process.

Regulating Sebum Production

Blue light regulates sebum production and it helps you to not grow acne as much. Sebum plays a key role in your acne cycle and excess sebum can clog your skin pores. So, regulating the sebum production is an important part of the treatment and blue light can do it properly.

Improving Inflammation

When you are fighting the breakouts of acne, then blue light can also tone down inflammation and redness. It is of major help when you are fighting acne.

All these make for a really effective solution for those who get affected by acne quite frequently and have easily-irritated skin. Also many of you might not be able to tolerate topical and conventional treatments. Using light therapy in sequence with topicals can be the ideal approach if you don’t want to stop conventional treatment yet. Also the light therapy can help deliver the topical products deeper into your skin and intensify their effects. Still, LED treatment or simply, light therapy offers a great alternative to all the standard topical and oral acne treatments out there.

Final Words

So, if you are really irritated with your acne problems and not getting expected results from your conventional medications, you can try resorting to light therapy, blue light therapy to be specific. That will help you with your acne problems, and other light therapies can help you with your skin too. And almost without any side effects, light therapy can provide you a great and lasting result that can match your expectation. So, it can be said that light therapy is a magic bullet treatment for acne,