Do LED face masks actually work?

[brittanyfairies]

For the last year I've seen lots of chat about LED face masks and I'm very easily influenced by chat on the internet😀

I'm 51 years old, I have normal to dry skin. I have been trying to take better care of it during the past year, so tret before bed, vitamin c in the morning. Adding things to the routine gradually. I think I have slight rosacea as the whole centre of my face is red (but no spots) so I always have to wear foundation. In the past, during the summer I've had a tan to even out the skin tone so I've done myself no favours there. I have a few freckles and sun spots, but they have definitely faded over the last year. I have big pores on my nose and chin, again these have got smaller with the products I've been using but they're never going to be miniscule. And, of course I am developing wrinkles, crows feet and a deep furrowed forehead from frowning. I have botox about once a year, but it's very expensive here in France so I only have it when I return to the UK and I metabolise it quite quickly, it's usually gone after three months.

So my question is, would an LED light help me improve the skin on my face. I'd like my skin to be quite glowy, but also to improve the texture and minimise wrinkles too.

Thanks for your help.

There's good evidence for blue led and acne. Not quite the same amount of overwhelming evidence that shows substantial improvement with red led for anti-ageing but you need a very specific wavelength combination which they don't all have. For the other colours there's almost no reliable evidence but green led is the one meant to be good for rosacea. All these results are from studies with led therapy comparable to in clinic setups, not the at home devices which are far less powerful per regulation.

I've never used one, if I had acne I'd definitely buy one, the evidence is solid, but my main issue is the cost and time investment for at most pretty marginal results on top of tret and vit c (it's mostly about stimulating collagen, so those two have both got it covered pretty well). If you were to put in years and run results through one of those skin health machines, at best you'd look a couple of months to a year younger, per the machine, maybe a bit more if you were not using actives and had a non existent skincare routine when you first start. We're talking about improvements of under 10% for things like texture and redness as opposed to 50% improvement for spots.

There's also a risk of hyperpigmentation, be it very small and predominantly with blue led, but as someone who is prone to it, I'd rather not take the risk.

And I'm a bit tinfoil hat about the safety, if I'd buy one I'd definitely want something reputable and not some random one off of Amazon, despite knowing it wouldn't cost much to string together a bunch of LEDs for a mask. For now, it just feels like a huge markup for minor results (in my situation), if I was in a place where marginal results would make a difference to me I'd probably consider it more seriously.

Thank you, I really appreciate this.

I have an Amazon one, it got me through cystic acne with no ice pick scars while I waited to be prescribed accutane and I have no wrinkles or aged skin at 45.

I wear sunblock daily.

I have the currentbody one. I use about 3/4 times a week and can tell the difference when I don't use it! For me it's hard to quantify exactly what it does-my skin looks brighter and more even toned.
I'm mid 40s with dry , slightly pigmented skin.

Which one? Could you give a link please?

I tried one. It did make a difference but I didn't like the thought of the light damage to my eyes even though there was no mention of that