Acne blue light therapy is one of the best acne treatments available, often used or recommended by doctors when other methods of acne removal, such as topical creams, have failed. Dermatologists can perform a blue light therapy session in minutes at their office or individuals can buy the lights to use at home. And with a wide range of home based light therapy kits now available, trying this method of pimple removal has never been easier.
How Acne Forms
Acne results from the infection of clogged pores. Oil from the sebaceous glands and dead skin cells trapped by the oil become a feeding ground for the bacteria Propionibacterium acnes (P. acnes). Hormones, especially the hormones of puberty, encourage overproduction of skin oils, making teenage acne particularly common. In fact, 3/4 of all teenagers have experienced acne. In reality, however, acne can strike at any age and almost anywhere on the body.
Blue Light Therapy as an Acne Solution
To get rid of acne, the bacteria that cause it must first be destroyed. Getting rid of P. acnes gets rid of acne. Blue light therapy works by inciting molecules in the bacteria to become free radicals, which then kill the bacteria from the inside out.
The use of high intensity blue light therapy for acne removal has been approved by the FDA and although there have only been a few small clinical trials, it does seem to be effective for acne removal. However, there are indications that it works best for surface acne and not so well for acne cysts, in reviews of the scientific literature conducted by the American Academy of Dermatology.
The Process of Using Acne Blue Light Therapy
Blue light therapy is often used in conjunction with the topical solution aminolevulinic acid (ALA), but it doesn't have to be. If ALA is used, it is applied to the skin before light treatment, given about half an hour to be absorbed into the skin and then left on throughout the treatment. The purpose of ALA is twofold – to destroy P. acnes and to calm the sebaceous glands so they don't produce as much oil.
For the actual procedure of using blue light therapy for acne, the patient simply sits in front of the light for somewhere between 8-20 minutes, depending on the specific intensity of the machine, the degree of acne and the area of the body being treated. The treatment should be repeated on a regular basis, usually once or twice a week, to ensure that acne doesn’t come back.
Overall, acne blue light therapy is worth trying as an acne removal remedy, since it is free of side effects and has shown promising results regarding its effectiveness. With the easy availability of home blue light treatment kits on the Internet and in retail stores, this kind of treatment for persistent acne is highly accessible. For those who prefer to leave their acne treatments to a professional, many dermatologists have high-grade blue light therapy machines available for use on their patients.
Resources and References:
- Tzung TY et al. “Blue light phototherapy in the treatment of acne.” Photodermatology, Photoimmunology & Photomedicine. 2004 October; 20(5):266-9.
- Cystic acne improved by photodynamic therapy with short-contact 5-aminolevulinic acid and sequential combination of intense pulsed light and blue light activation. Journal of Drugs in Dermatology, Nov-Dec, 2005
Bridget Coila - I'm a cell and molecular biologist, freelance writer and photographer currently living in Beijing, China. I'm fascinated by science, ...
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