Here’s a special treat for all you Beauty Brainiacs out there: our special guest-blogger for today is none other than Nicki, from Futurederm.com. If you’re a fan of the Beauty Brains, you’ll love Futurederm. Check it out! And now, on with Nicki’s post…
Want Clearer Skin? See the Light.
And no, I’m not talking about sunlight, sorry everyone! 
What I am talking about is the new Tanda Skincare System ($395.00, Amazon.com). The system emits visible wavelength (not UV) light from an LED source (414 nm blue light and 660 nm red light), to treat acne. According to a study by Tanda, the use of their light treatment was “significantly more effective” than treatment with a 5% benzoyl peroxide cream over the same period.
Yet, the use of LED has been recently shown to have anti-aging effects for the skin as well. With skin-clearing and firming benefits, is an at-home LED treatment center worth the money? FutureDerm investigates…
Acne-clearing benefits
According to Kansas City dermatologist Dr. Audrey Kunin’s DERMADoctor site, the Tanda Skincare System is only to be used on patients with mild to moderate acne, not cystic acne. The site says that the way to know the difference is simply by counting the lesions: no more than 125 total lesions across the treatment area (100 whiteheads/blackheads, or 15-50 inflammatory lesions). According to a 107-person 12-week study by Tanda, a 63% mean reduction in inflammatory lesions and a 45% mean reduction in comedones was exhibited by those patients who completed the study.
It is speculated that the reason LED is effective against acne is two-fold. One, LED light may have anti-bacterial properties, and there is a small amount of evidence that suggests that light disrupts P. acnes, the primary bacterial species found in acne cases. Two, LED light may have anti-inflammatory properties, which may calm existing lesions and prevent new lesions from forming.
Collagen and Elastin Production Stimulation
According to a recent study, LED phototherapy repairs sun damage and increases collagen and elastin production, although “lasers and peels have faster, more substantial results, but more side effects,” according to Seung Yoon Lee, a dermatologist at the National Medical Center in South Korea. With regards to LED therapy’s fewer side effects, Lee adds, “LED is safe for dark skin, unlike some lasers.”
According to Allure magazine, in the study, the researchers treated one side of 61 subjects’ faces with a light-emitting diode machine, while 15 others received a one-sided placebo treatment. Twelve weeks later, only the LED-targeted skin had a decrease in wrinkles (26-36 percent) and an increase in elasticity (14-19 percent). LED therapy seems to increase collagen and elastin production, although less significantly than dermatologist-administered lasers and peels.
Overall Thoughts and Opinions
LED therapy has been proven more effective at fighting acne and promoting collagen and elastin production than other at-home procedures. However, greater effects are still available through prescription medications and treatments (lasers, peels) at your dermatologist’s office. At the present time, it is probably a better idea to spend your money on a dermatologist-administered treatment. Hopefully, however, the cost of at-home LED therapy systems like the Tanda Skincare System will decrease. At any rate, the treatment is certainly novel and exciting, and if you want the best in at-home treatments, then this is definitely worth a try!
{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
How are the charging almost 400$ for LEDs? Those things are dirt cheap!
Also, in Tanda’s study they used fluorescent lights instead of LEDs. I don’t know if that would be any different, but it seems like they would do the study with the LEDs before they charge 400$ for their product.
Thank-you for an informative article on the benefits of LED’s in treating a variety of common skin issues. It’s amazing what we can do now with this non-invasive treatment option. We have had nothing but positive feedback from clients using the Tanda as a part of their “at-home” beauty program.
http://www.glowrescue.com
well really informative article this is the first time i am on your blog but liked its content and the way you have described it.My sister had a fotofacial so i have started a website on it that s in my name link
You can make these for dirt cheap if you know how to solder, and can surf the internet. I made one for my brother that he uses on his face and back. The whole thing cost about $40 to make, and I got everything to make it from eBay, and Radio Shack. I used 288 red 660nm and 288 blue 415nm LED’s for a total of 576 LED’s (5mm LED’s on both spectrums). The LED’s will last about 10 years (100,000 hours), and when he uses it, it consumes 28.8 Watts. He loves it and uses it every day. Getting the correct LED’s is the key to the success in this science.
BW, did it actually work for your bother?
Hi, I have been using it basically twice a day for a year – 6 minutes of the blue light and 1 minute of the red every morning and every night. It has been VERY time-consuming, but I do see results. I would say that I used to have moderate-severe acne, but now I have very mild acne. At any one time, I used to have numerous painful spots on both cheeks and around the jawline area. I would wake up to whiteheads on a daily basis. Now, I only have a couple of spots mostly around my chin area, and they aren’t painful. If spots do come up, I rarely have to pop them. They tend to go back down in 2-3 days by themselves.
For the past week, I have completely stopped using the Tanda because I’ve gone back to school. My face has been a lot less red lately. Maybe my face can’t take the light therapy twice a day everyday, so I might try doing it only once a week now that I now have pretty mild acne.
My main concern now are the scars and hyperpigmentation, which I have started to deal with by manually exfoliating my face twice a week. Prior, I only exfoliated once a week because the combination of light therapy and excess exfoliation left my face raw and red. It seems that I am able to exfoliate my face more often when I am not using the tanda on a daily basis. The exfoliation has helped to lighten up the dark spots.
Now that I am much busier, I’m going to see if using the Tanda once a week will maintain the results I have gained from using the Tanda for one year. I have read that it takes up to two weeks for a pimple to form, so perhaps using it as little as every two weeks might work. I don’t know the science behind how a pimple forms and how all of the bacteria is killed, so I’m just going to have to find out through trial-and-error.
Anyway, just wanted to offer my experience with the Tanda light system. Hope this helps.
Got an LED Acne light from http://www.larryslasers.com. I got the one that has a stand so I can use it while working at home. So far so good but I have only had it for about 5 days but I think my skin is getting healthier looking. I will try to update this post in 4 weeks to let you know how it works.
Gogo
LED skin rejuvenation device is technicaly very much effective on ance treatment and skin whitening. And being as one of the TOP3 Medical Aesthetic Equipment suppliers in China,we have never given up upgrading our products to catch up with the much competitive market at present.
Look forward to establishing reliable business relationship with your esteemed corporation.
Kelcy Lee
Mobile: 86 18701341926
Email :sincoherenkelcylee@yahoo.com
LED skin rejuvenation device is technicaly very much effective on ance treatment and skin whitening. And being as one of the TOP3 Medical Aesthetic Equipment suppliers in China,we have never given up upgrading our products to catch up with the much competitive market at present.
Look forward to establishing reliable business relationship with your esteemed corporation.
Kelcy Lee
Mobile: 86 18701341926
MSN:doreen7682@msn.cn Skype: sincoheren7
Email :sincoherenkelcylee@yahoo.com
Website: http://www.sincoherenbj.com/
Add: B-1104,Sinotrans Plaza,Xizhimen North Street ,Beijing China
I finally am following up on my last post which was about 6 weeks ago. As I said before Got an LED Acne light from http://www.larryslasers.com and I really love it. I have been using it every other day so far and while I thought I was the only once who noticed my skin seemed puffed up and healthier but to my surprise my boss and co-workers asked me if I was exercising or dieting as they said I look healthier. I told them about my LED light and my boss and her friend went and bought one too. So far so good. Please someone else let us know your experience too.
Hi, I bought this Blue & Red high power LED light http://brighttherapy.com/index.php/professional-systems-brighttherapy/pro-level-led-cluster-for-acne-anti-aging-skin-172-led-s.html
I think this is stronger than the Tandra. I am using it for my adult acne with good results. I am using it every other day.
If you need any Light Therapy devices http://brighttherapy.com/ BrightTherapy.com has it. They seem to have everything, from LLLT Laser Therapy machines to LED Acne Lights and even some micro-current devices.
My friend got the a softlaser from them and it arrive in 3 days. I couldn’t believe how fast they could ship it all the way from Japan to Canada.
After I initially left a comment I seem to have clicked on the -Notify me when new comments are added- checkbox and from now on whenever a comment is added I get four emails with the exact same comment. Perhaps there is an easy method you are able to remove me from that service? Thanks a lot!
Blue light therapy for acne treatment does work but as Moochoo said, it is really time consuming, compared to brushing your teeth for instance.
Does anyone know if white LEDs work? I’ve been using my LED camping headlamp (about $20.00 at REI) for a couple of days but it’s too soon to know if it’s helping my acne. Also does anyone know if there are any bad side-effects to using LED lights, like skin cancer or photosensitivity reacions? I also use Retin-A so my skin could be photosensitive.
You need a special type of LED. A camping headlight will not do anything for your acne.
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