What are the benefits of LEDs in skincare? Is the expense and trouble worthwhile? We think yes and here is a professional article as a guide. This gets a bit technical in parts and I would recommend that you follow the link to the main article for a more detailed explanation. All Italics are mine.
Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are semiconductor devices that produce non-coherent, non-collimated (that is, not parallel rays), and narrow-spectrum lights (approximately 255–1300 nm) when a forward voltage is applied. LED devices, including blue (420–440 nm), red (630–680 nm), and yellow (590–595 nm) LED lights, as well as near-infrared (LED-NIR; 750–1200 nm), are typically applied in five fields, including indicators and signs, lighting, data communication, machine vision systems, and especially, biological applications. In fact, the application of LEDs in dermatology has really attracted the attention of dermatologists and estheticians thanks to their ideal properties (photobiomodulation (ability to treat skin conditions) [PBM] as well as outstanding advantages (e.g., high compliance, convenience, simplicity, and painlessness).
A number of studies have demonstrated the benefits of LEDs in various clinical practices, such as accelerating wound healing, inhibiting infection, rejuvenating skin, treating acne and atopic dermatitis, radiation therapy, and photodynamic therapy (PDT). Specifically, LEDs have been popularly integrated into PDT devices as light sources to treat a wide range of medical conditions (e.g., cancer, acne, psoriasis, atherosclerosis, and anti-viral treatments). The principle of treatment is based on PBM reactions, which include altering intrinsic cellular activity, promoting the regeneration of various tissues and nerves, altering intrinsic cellular activity, enhancing tissue repair, preventing tissue damage, and reducing inflammatory lesions.
This can be explained that the photons emitted by LEDs are absorbed by the chromophores of the skin (e.g., mitochondrial, cytochrome C, melanin, and endogenous protoporphyrins), causing downstream alterations in its bio-physiology, leading to changes in cellular proliferation, migration, differentiation, inflammation, and collagen production.
A total of six studies reported the use of LED in improving skin rejuvenation. In which, two RCTs (Randomized Controlled Trials) using a red LED irradiation reported that red LED was able to slightly improve the signs of wrinkles after a 3-week irradiation period, compared to the untreated group. Besides, Migliardi et al. (2009) demonstrated a synergistic effect of the combination of red LED and LED-NIR irradiation (50% duty cycle and 1.17 min) in 30 patients with 40–50 days follow-up. A placebo-controlled RCT of 76 participants pointed out that the irradiation of red LED, LED-NIR, or the combination of red LED and LED-NIR for 20 min twice weekly for 4 weeks improved wrinkles by 26%, 33%, and 36%, respectively.
Regarding LED-NIR-based skin treatment, a placebo-control study on 79 patients reported a 32% improvement in skin texture after 8–10 weeks irradiation with LED-NIR (Near Infra Red) . Nikolis et al. (2016) reported that blue LED was more effective in reducing signs of wrinkles in 32 patients after a 4-week treatment than topical treatment with a cream containing 0.1% retinol.
It can be seen that these studies have gradual results, and it may require a longer follow-up (e.g., more than 6 months) to evaluate the effectiveness of LEDs in long-term skin rejuvenation.
This systematic review of 31 RCTs and case–control studies provides clinical evidence, in particular, treatment parameters and follow-up periods after LED therapy to improve the skin appearance that the dermatologist can tailor to meet the patient's needs, in which, scientific evidence recommended that LEDs were beneficial in improving outcomes for acne vulgaris, herpes simplex and zoster, skin rejuvenation, and psoriasis treatments, while LED-based wound healing is controversial.
These treatments were believed to be safe and well-tolerated by patients. Furthermore, the meta-analysis confirmed that LED devices have shown efficacy in treating acne vulgaris, herpes simplex, skin rejuvenation, and psoriasis. Indeed, these clinical benefits are attributed to metabolism pathways, especially by altering intracellular pathways based on photo-biochemical reactions. Specifically, LED irradiation increases the production of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), produces reactive oxygen species (ROS), generates transcription factors, stimulates angiogenesis, synthesizes collagen, increases blood flow, and finally heals skin diseases.
Furthermore, skin aging, including fine lines, rhytides, telangiectasia, dyspigmentation, elastosis, and textural irregularities, has also been successfully regulated using LED devices. LEDs are highly effective in skin rejuvenation through biophotomodulation pathways, especially altering the intrinsic cellular activity through absorption by chromophores located in the skin, and can result in desired skin rejuvenation effects.
LEDs are useful in skin therapies, including the treatment of acne vulgaris, herpes simplex and zoster, skin rejuvenation, and psoriasis, by determining its properties and specific applications. Specifically, blue and red LED lights are able to reduce inflammation, inhibit keratinocyte proliferation, increase the apoptosis of immune cells, and promote collagen synthesis, which are ideal properties for controlling acne vulgaris, wounds, psoriasis diseases, and skin rejuvenation, respectively. In contrast, LED-NIR devices are useful in treating skin infections (e.g., herpes simplex and zoster) based on their ability to destroy bacterial membranes. Moreover, patients with atopic dermatitis are usually treated using yellow LED light without side effects such as DNA damage and pain. However, some analyses exhibit low statistical significance due to the limited number of studies; therefore, to improve statistical significance, further studies are necessary.
I have, here, limited to the above those aspects of the article which cover skin care and skin care therapies. The full article, which I encourage you to read, covers more in depth subjects such as acne, herpes, zoster and other aspects. This is not my own work! The citation and link for the article is here:
Ngoc LTN, Moon J-Y, Lee Y-C.Utilization of light-emitting diodes for skin therapy: Systematic review and meta-analysis. Photodermatol Photoimmunol Photomed. 2023;39:303-317. doi: 10.1111/phpp.12841 https://doi.org/10.1111/phpp.12841
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