Modern acne treatment procedures have come of age with new improvements and latest techniques to alleviate acne—one of the most unsightly and depressing skin disorder. Among these au courant innovations blue light acne therapy is the most popular one which could heal this age old skin disease in a far more effective way.
Basic Cause of Acne
Skin, the largest organ in human body, contains numerous hair follicles and oil producing sebaceous glands. These glands ooze out body oil or sebum through pilosebaceous units, which eventually reach the outer surface to maintain the softness and moisture content of our skin. Sometimes due to excess secretion of sebum from hyperactive sebaceous glands the pilosebaceous canals get clogged up by body oil mixed in piles of dead skin cells.
This condition gives rise to mild acne lesions like blackheads and whiteheads. Apparently harmless Propionibacterium acnes bacteria thrive in the blocked hair follicles and eventually inflamed acne pimples and other lesions show up.
What is Blue Light Therapy?
In this therapeutic procedure the acne affected body parts of the patient are exposed to a light radiation of a definite wave length. Skin specialists use fluorescent and dichroic lamps, full-spectrum light, or lasers to produce this light spectrum for a certain time frame.
In blue light acne therapy these lamps are made to generate a high-intensity blue-light radiation with a narrow-band width. In 2002 this wonderful acne treatment has been approved by FDA and in present days this is perhaps the most popular light therapy to treat a range of skin diseases which might include mild to moderate acne, dark blemishes, and even rosacea.
How Blue Light Affects Acne?
Acne causing bacteria P. acnes generate countless minute molecules, also known as porphyrins, inside the blocked pores which are photosensitive in nature. When blue light radiation falls all over the affected skin area it penetrates through the skin pores and come in touch with porphyrins which in turn pump out free radicals. These free radicals attack the P. acnes bacterial cells present within their vicinity and eventually kill them.
Treatment Procedure and Other Blue Light Therapies
In this therapy patients are made to sit in front of a low intensity blue light source at a comfortable distance of 2 to 3 feet. The maximum duration of each session lasts for 15 minutes and it is repeated twice a week. The whole treatment procedure continues for around 4 weeks depending on the severity of the acne condition. The blue light acne therapy costs around S800.00. In any case a dermatologist would be right the person to determine a perfect light therapy regimen for your acne situation.
In recent years light therapies using blue radiation have been improved a lot. Nowadays numerous medical practitioners in this field are using unique techniques to shape the whole procedure in a more effective, comfortable, and quicker fashion compared to initial blue light therapies.
Combined blue-red light therapy
A new breakthrough in the field of blue light acne therapy have shown that if red light is combined with the original blue light radiation then the effectivity of the whole treatment process could be enhanced significantly by an approximately 200% faster pace of improvement in the skin condition. Stubborn adult acne, which is found to be nonresponsive to the traditional over-the-counter and prescribed acne treatments, could effectively be cured with this new system.
It has been reported that the red light radiation helps in promoting the healing of the skin whereas the blue light works to destroying the proliferation of P. acnes bacteria. The whole procedure is painless, less time consuming, and noninvasive in nature.
Blue light therapy using ALA
This latest modification of blue light acne therapy involves a two step methodology. In the first step of this treatment a solution of 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA) is applied all over the skin wherever acne lesions have flourished. After a period of 15 to 20 minutes ALA is wiped off and the patient is exposed to blue light radiation source. Due to the effect of ALA the whole skin area becomes highly photosensitive, which helps the blue light spectrum heal the acne lesions more effectively.
Benefits of This Therapy
Blue light acne therapy could provide you with a number of beneficial aspects. First of all, unlike topical and oral treatments it is safe and free of side effects. The post-treatment effects are nonetheless mild and tolerable.
As these light therapies do not use UV radiation, they do not involve any threat like sun burn or skin cancer. Although there are still a number of decisive factors associated with this therapy which are yet to be investigated, but with the advancement of science and technology one day light therapy would surely make its niche among the most useful modern acne treatments.
