What is it?
Red Light therapy is a treatment modality that uses low levels of red and infrared light to help your body heal. The light stimulates the mitochondria in your cells to produce ATP (energy), which results in improved health of the cell by allowing the cell to block damage caused by nitric oxide. All the cells in the body can benefit from this- from the tendon and muscle cells to the skin and brain cells.
How was it discovered?
Interestingly, Red Light benefits were discovered in space! NASA used these lights to grow vegetation in space. It was discovered that the astronauts exposed to this light benefited from improved wound healing. This led to further investigation of the other potential benefits of the light.
What are the benefits?
Hair Growth: by stimulate near dormant follicles Red Light can result in hair growth and improved hair thickness and improved scalp health
Skin Health: Red Light stimulates collagen production in the skin which can result in decreased fine lines and wrinkles, uneven skin texture and sagging. Many lights also contain blue light which can kill bacteria on the skin and improve acne.
Circulation: Red Light can improve the health of your blood vessels which can result in improved blood circulation
Improved Recovery: by stimulating the mitochondria in muscle, tendon and ligament cells recovery time is decreased.
Pain Reduction: by reducing inflammation and improving circulation, body pain and arthritis pain can be significantly reduced.
Improved Mood: Red light can help with conditions such as SAD (seasonal affective disorder), which is very common in winter months
How is it delivered?
Red Light Therapy is delivered via a professional grade, NASA produced light. Some setups resemble a tanning booth however there is No UV in the light and it is not dangerous to your skin. Unlike tanning beds. There is no risk for skin damage or skin cancer with this type of light.
What are the risks?
There are no known risks of receiving red light therapy.
How often can I do it?
Red Light is safe to use on a daily basis. Therapy sessions typically last 10-20 minutes. A reasonable long term maintenance plan would be 15 min twice a week, however even if you are only able to receive a red light treatment once a week or every other week you will still reap benefits from the therapy.
At Renew You MedSpa we love using Red Light Therapy to help our acne patients improve the quality of their skin, our NeoGen patients heal more quickly after treatments and our hair restoration patients improve their hair growth.