What is light therapy? Read all about the new light therapy trend

Blue LED light and Red LED light and infrared are light-based treatments that encourage the cells in the skin, muscle tissue and other parts of the body to heal. This technology uses low levels of blue, red or infrared light, a type of energy that we cannot see with our eyes. These light rays heat up the cells under our skin and promote, among other things, cell renewal. This leads to cell turnover, which reveals new, healthy skin cells and provides the face a tighter and more youthful appearance.

Before you start exploring infrared LED devices, it's important to understand the difference between Infrared light therapy, Red LED light therapy and Blue LED Light Therapy.

What is Infrared Light Therapy? and what are its benefits?

Infrared technology is quite common in the beauty world. Light in this infrared spectrum range can penetrate the skin deep into muscle tissue and nerves. They also have longer wavelengths than regular red light, so they target problems that lie deeper than just surface skin problems. When muscles absorb this light, they warm up and blood flow increases.

This increase in blood flow has been shown to reduce inflammation and promote healthy cell renewal. This may also promote faster wound and injury healing. This makes infrared light technology great for the muscle recovery process and suitable for people struggling with sore and tight muscles or aching legs.

What is Red LED Light Therapy? and what are its benefits?

In contrast, red LED light has an ideal wavelength for treating more surface-level issues, such as wrinkles and fine lines, as well as the skin's color, texture and overall complexion. Because it does not penetrate the skin as deeply as infrared light, red LED light therapy is usually only used in skin care equipment.

Red LED light therapy helps promote blood circulation, which brings more oxygen and nutrients to the skin's surface, resulting in a radiant glow. Increased blood flow contributes to collagen and elastin production, which can help minimize signs of aging such as wrinkles and fine lines.

Combining Infrared light and red LED light

Red LED light and infrared light can and should be combined in most cases. The two types of light therapy form a powerful pair when combined. One example where the two work hand in hand is anti-ageing light therapy devices. The most effective anti-aging solutions are likely to include red and infrared light. This is due to their powerful wrinkle-reducing properties and ability to improve the overall texture and complexion of the skin.

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Advantages of red LED light and infrared light

Some of the advantages of red LED light - and infrared light are:

  • It promotes healthy skin.

Light therapy is useful for healing your skin and treating several different skin problems and conditions. It protects and increases new collagen production, stimulates healing, helps repair sun damage, promotes anti-aging, reduces scars and stretch marks, reduces the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, helps cure acne and can treat other skin conditions such as rosacea and eczema.

  • Light therapy is completely natural.

Just as your skin needs air and water, your skin needs light. Unlike chemical solutions, light therapy penetrates deep into the skin to improve your skin at the cellular level.

  • It promotes healthy sleep.

Red and infrared light promote the adjustment of the body's circadian rhythm. This counteracts the overstimulation caused by devices that emit blue light, such as mobile phones and laptops, which affect our ability to sleep. The red and infrared light technology encourages deep sleep, counteracts overstimulation from blue light and promotes melatonin production.

  • It improves cognitive performance.

The light waves from red and infrared light penetrate deep into the skin to provide benefits at the cellular level. It also stimulates brain cell function, improves mental acuity, encourages clearer and sharper thinking and executive functions, leads to faster learning, better reasoning skills and boosts your mood.

  • It improves athletic performance and muscle recovery.

Even if you are not an athlete, red light and infrared light therapy can help speed up the muscle recovery process. As the light penetrates the tissue and muscle, it can act as a pain reliever and mild muscle relaxant. Over time, this can improve your strength, muscle definition, speed, endurance and muscle recovery.

  • It reduces inflammation.

Light therapy reduces inflammation by increasing cellular energy and reducing oxidative stress. It accelerates tissue healing, increases blood vessel formation, helps fight disease, increases blood circulation and relieves chronic inflammation.

  • It increases energy levels.

One of the main benefits of light therapy is the increase in energy production by strengthening the mitochondria. Often referred to as the powerhouse of the cell, strengthened mitochondria can help fight fatigue. Light therapy boosts energy levels, combats nitric oxide and oxidative stress that slow us down and leads to more efficient cell production.

Red light and infrared light therapy increases blood flow and has been shown to increase fertility. In many studies, it increases testosterone levels, reduces the effects of menopause and andropause, increases blood flow and leads to increased sexual performance and pleasure.

  • It fights anxiety and depression.

Light therapy has great effects on mental health. It has been shown to help with severe depression and reduce chronic stress and anxiety. It has been recommended by psychiatrists and doctors alike.

  • Anti-ageing properties

Although red and infrared light are not exactly the fountain of youth, there is plenty of evidence to show that this type of light therapy can help manage and minimise the signs of ageing. As we age, we lose skin elasticity due to reduced collagen production. With lower levels of collagen production, our skin loses its ability to bounce back and stay in place. Unfortunately, this is caused naturally over time with aging and genetics. Although we have no control over how our bodies age, we can influence our skin to look youthful for longer.

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Infrared light and red LED light treatment provides power to the cells that releases adenosine triphosphate (ATP), leading to increased metabolism, cell renewal and cellular processes. This release of energy helps our skin to absorb nutrients, oxygen, promotes detoxification, growth and repair. It also stimulates blood circulation which contributes to the development of new capillaries. With this, more nutrients and oxygen can be delivered to the skin, resulting in a more radiant appearance of the skin.

Red and infrared light also help to increase the activity of the lymphatic system to reduce swelling and puffiness. Because it increases blood circulation, the lymphatic system works more efficiently to remove excess fluid and waste from the skin. These results are immediate and can be seen after the first treatment.

This technique also increases the production of collagen and fibroblasts, which contributes to a youthful appearance over time. Collagen along with elastin is what gives the skin its elasticity, firmness and plumpness that fades with age. An increase in collagen and fibroblasts helps to reduce pore size, smooth out fine lines and wrinkles, and improve and even out the texture of the skin.

How and where to get Infrared light and red LED light therapy?

Red LED light therapy and infrared light therapy are available at most dermatologists' offices, spas and beauty salons. Many spas offer full-body light therapy beds, sometimes called "Red Light Tanning". By doing a full-body treatment, you can dramatically reduce the appearance of cellulite as well as stretch marks. With professional treatment, the entire process can be administered quickly. Although you may see some results immediately after treatment, multiple treatments are recommended to see the best results. It is also suggested that you go for maintenance treatments to prolong the results you want.

Red LED light therapy can also be used at home. Because it is so gentle and non-invasive, there are many devices on the market that provide the same results as professional light therapy devices. Handheld devices are available from many different brands and are quite popular.

What is Blue LED Light Therapy?

Blue LED light therapy uses light to treat certain conditions on or just under the skin. It is considered a painless procedure.

Blue light therapy can only treat areas that light can reach. Therefore, it is usually used to treat conditions that are on or just below the surface of the skin.

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Purpose and uses of blue light treatment

  • Prevention of sun damage and skin cancer

Blue light therapy is most commonly used to treat sun damage and premalignant or malignant skin cancer growths. It can actually be used to prevent skin cancer and remove both precancerous skin lesions and cancerous skin lesions that have not spread to other parts of the body (or metastasised).

Photodynamic therapy can be used to treat skin cancer. It causes the photosynthesising drug applied to the skin to react with oxygen and kill the cancer cells. It can also be used to trigger a defence by the immune system or damage the blood vessels that supply the cancer cells.

Blue LED light therapy can also treat other types of skin conditions. It can be used to improve skin texture and reduce sebaceous hyperplasia, or enlarged oil glands. It can help remove sunspots, acne and even scars originally caused by acne.

  • Depression

In addition to treating skin conditions and cancer, blue light therapy can also be used to treat depression.

It is particularly effective in the treatment of major depressive disorder with seasonal patterns, formerly known as seasonal affective disorder (SAD). This condition is often caused in part by dull winter weather, darker days and spending more time indoors. It can be treated with light.

How therapy with Blue LED light works

Treatment with bladder light therapy is usually a very quick process and is almost always done as an outpatient procedure. The exception may be photodynamic therapy in high-risk areas for cancer treatment.

Out at the skin clinic, your skin therapist or skin care specialist will usually take you to a dark room. If they are using photosynthetic medicines, they will apply the medicine topically, directly to the area to be treated.

If these medicines are used, the medicine may need to be on the skin for a few hours to a few days, to allow the skin to absorb the medicine. No matter how long it is on, you will be advised to stay away from sunlight and other bright lights, protect your skin and stay indoors as much as possible while the medicine is on.

When your skin therapist begins the light treatment, they will give you goggles to wear to protect your eyes, and then they will apply the light to the target area.

Treatment sessions can last from 15 to 90 minutes, depending on the area being treated, its size and whether a particular drug has been used. If only a small area is being treated, such as a single spot of skin cancer, the affected area will receive blue light for about 17 minutes.

People with depression and seasonal affective disorder may have their own bladder light therapy devices at home that they can use daily to help resolve their symptoms.

Side effects of blue light therapy

When used correctly, there are no significant long-term side effects of treatment with Blue LED light therapy.

Blue-light treatment by itself, without the addition of photosensitivity drugs, is safe.

You should not receive the blue light treatment if you have a rare condition called porphyria, which is a disease of the blood that leads to increased sensitivity to light, or if you are allergic to porphyrins. You should also not use this therapy if you have lupus.

Introduction of Vivre 6 in 1 Skin Perfector

If you prefer an appliance that you can use in your own home Vivre a proven and popular anti-aging device that uses IR and red + blue adjustment technology.

Vivre 6 in 1 Skin Perfector

Vivre Skin Perfector is one of our most innovative devices for skin tightening and lifting. It uses harmonised energy to repair collagen from the inside out. Unlike other devices, it works deep below the surface to awaken our inner restoration process. The result is tighter skin and a reduction in wrinkles, fine lines, sun spots and an overall improved skin texture.

Vivre 6 in 1 Skin Perfector is an all-in-one device that has multiple uses, including revitalising collagen-producing cells to rebuild skin's plumpness and elasticity. After treatment, sagging skin will defy gravity and look visibly younger.

Each function can be used separately or combined with other functions of your choice. Our latest technology triggers the skin's own healing functions, causing it to produce elastin fibres and collagen that you've lost over the years. This makes your results last much longer.

Simple, effective and safe treatment

The device has advanced high frequency function, Ion +/- deep facial cleansing, absorption function, microcurrent
muscle massage, red light and blue light & cooling technique. Each function can be used individually or combined with other functions.

  • High frequency function: Conditions the dermis and stimulates the production of new collagen and elasticity fibres for visible results and longer lasting results.
  • Jon+/- Cleaning: Deep cleans and removes pores
  • Jon+/- Moisturizing: Improves the absorption of skin care products so that they can penetrate deeper into the skin tissue.
  • Jon+/- Eye care: Cares for the delicate skin around the eyes and removes eye bags.
  • Microcurrent (EMS): Stimulates deeper skin layers through moderate to low frequency. Rejuvenates the skin and firms the skin.
  • Red LED light therapy: Combats wrinkles by using 650nm infrared light to repair damaged skin tissue, stimulate new collagen production and increase blood circulation.
  • Blue LED light therapy: 465nm blue light improves oily skin and repairs acne scars. Helps smooth skin tissue.
  • Cooling function: Shrinks pores and tightens the skin.

Vivre Skin Perfector also allows users to enjoy fast and long-lasting results.

How to prepare for light therapy

Whether you do the treatment professionally or at home, always check the manufacturer's instructions to make sure you prepare the skin properly for the treatment. With that said, here are some tips to make the process easier.

  1. Wash the face to remove any dirt or oils from the skin. You want the light to penetrate the skin and you don't want anything to get in the way of those light rays.
  2. Depending on the device you choose to use, read the instructions and make sure you only do the procedure during the specific recommended time frame. Too little exposure will not give you the best results, and too much exposure is not good for you either.
  3. Depending on the device, you can control how often you should perform treatments.
  4. Different people experience light therapy in different ways. Some people feel a pulsating effect and others feel nothing at all. There is no wrong or right way to feel about light therapy. However, it should not cause any discomfort when used.
  5. There is no downtime with light therapy. After the treatments, you can apply any serum or moisturizers and make-up as you wish.
  6. Since light therapy improves blood circulation and nutrition to the skin, try applying one serum or a good quality antioxidant to maximize the benefits of light therapy.

Get ready

Now that we've gone over what it is, light therapy doesn't sound so scary anymore, does it? Red and infrared light therapy is good for your skin and targets it from a cellular level. While it can't completely eliminate all signs of aging, it's an excellent non-invasive way to address skin conditions related to aging.