Almost every teenager suffers through at least a few pimples according to the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD). Most cases of facial acne clear up after treatment with over-the-counter skin care products, but some bad cases resist the common ingredients in these products. For these patients, light therapy can help clear disfiguring facial acne.
Significance
Acne often results when your skin's sebaceous glands produce too much oil. This oil, along with dead skin cells, can clog pores and lead to whiteheads or blackheads according to the Mayo Clinic. This oily environment also provides the perfect breeding ground for Propionibacterium acnes (P. acnes), a bacteria that's always present on the skin but that can cause pimples and inflammation if it proliferates.
Function
Different types of light therapies target different factors in the biological process that produces acne. Blue light therapy, for example, is used to target the P. acnes bacteria and destroy it, according to the Mayo Clinic. The combination of pulsed light (especially light in the green-yellow bands) and heat can shrink the oil-producing sebaceous glands, which leads to less oil production and also kill bacteria. Laser treatments can shrink or destroy the sebaceous glands without harming the skin on the surface.
Effects
Medical studies have demonstrated that various light therapy treatments are effective for facial acne. For example, a 2004 study published in "Photodermatology, Photoimmunology, and Photomedicine" looked at 31 patients with facial acne. The researchers treated them with blue light therapy twice a week for four weeks and concluded the treatment works for all patients except those with nodulocystic acne, a particular type of acne. Another study, this one reported in 2004 in "Dermatologic Surgery," used a laser to treat 19 patients with inflammatory facial acne. The study said patients saw an 83 percent reduction in acne lesions after three treatments.
Time Frame
Light therapy doesn't work immediately warns the Mayo Clinic and patients may even see their facial acne get worse before it gets better. Dermatologists may recommend light therapy treatments twice a month or even once a week over several months in order to get facial acne under control. Patients may not see real benefits until they've had several treatments.
Considerations
Light therapy for facial acne can be expensive; for example, single blue light therapy sessions cost up to $200, which means a normal treatment recommendation of eight sessions would cost $1600 in total, according to the AAD. Because dermatologists don't prescribe light therapy for facial acne routinely, it's still considered experimental and health insurance likely won't pay for it warns the AAD. In addition, some of the types of lights and lasers only target one of the several causes of acne, so your dermatologist may recommend combining light therapy for facial acne with another type of treatment, such as a prescription cream.
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