Did you know that a vast majority of adults, one in twenty in fact, suffer from persistent acne which can prove to be extremely resistant to antibiotics and over-the-counter lotions and potions?
The good thing about suffering on such a large scale often means that (usually) more research studies will be carried out and more and more newer treatments readily become available as time goes on. This is especially the case with acne where we tend to hear about new treatments and over-the-counter products every year.
To think that about a decade ago we had the likes of Clearasil, Oxy10 and Noxzema pads to put into our arsenal of weapons against acne. Fast forward 5 to 10 years and we now have treatments such as chemical peels, microderm abrasion and blue light acne therapy available to us.
The difference between treatments such as chemical peels and blue light acne therapy as compared to using Clearasil pads, for example is that in the latter scenario, the Clearasil pads are at best going to dry out your angry looking red pimples. If instead you use microderm abrasion, then this process will slough off the dead skin that is blocking your pore and let the fresh epidermis come through. Therefore, although they might sound more major, chemical peels, microderm abrasion and blue light acne therapy are much more effective, especially over the longer term, in combatting acne.
So - what exactly is blue light acne therapy?
A few yeas ago, doctors at Hammersmith Hospital in London carried out some tests where they discovered that acne exposed to UV (ultra violet) light appeared to clear up significantly. However, doctors did not favour the method of using UV light because of its increased risk of skin cancer.
Instead, they started to use a blue and red light mixture which does not contain the potentially damaging UV aspect. Over a twelve week period, doctors carried out tests which involved using a lightbox that produced blue and red light wavelengths. The patients, who had moderate to mild cases of acne, would be exposed to this light source for about 15 minutes daily. At the end of the test period, it was found that this treatment reduced the amount of spots that patients had by three quarters. This is a significant amount and much better than most other active treatments available at that time. However, the results did not reach significant levels.
What doctors had discovered though was that the combination of the red and blue lights did two things:
1) it attacked bacteria that contributed to the acne
2) it promoted healing in the skin affected.
In other words, acne treatment using blue-red light (and probably by combining anti-inflammatory and antibacterial action) is deemed to be an effective method for treating acne vulgaris of mild to moderate severity. And a major plus factor is that there appeared to be no significant adverse effects in the short-term.
