Is 10 minutes of red light therapy enough?

“TL;DR: A 10’ minute treatment may be OK with higher power LED devices but a little longer treatment times (20’ or 30’) are usually better, for a variety of reasons, analysed below.”

LED Light therapy: what is best, 10, 20 or 30 minute treatment?

• It all comes down to light intensity

• Wavelength is also important

• Treatment depth also plays a role

• There is reciprocity between treatment time and light intensity but extreme variations will not work

• Have a skin tightening/cellulite treatment in London with the experts

• Advanced, infrared / blue / red light therapy treatments in London at LipoTherapeia

• The Cellulite School™: Get advanced training in cellulite reduction and skin tightening

It all comes down to light intensity

Red and infrared LED light therapy is quite effective and very safe for both aesthetic applications and health applications (back pain, musculoskeletal injuries, seasonal affective disorder etc).

With a high-power LED device, 10 minutes might be enough but 20 minutes (and sometimes 30 minutes) would be better. Consider a high power device one that offers about 60-120mW/cm2.

Anything above 200mw/cm2 for the body and 120mW for the face is not a good idea, unless done at a professional setting with carefully devised protocols and for a shorter period of time.

At the clinic we typically work with 20 minutes at 60-120mw/cm2 (less for more superficial work, more for deeper work) but naturally that varies for each individual case.

With a medium power LED device, 20-30 minutes make more sense, sometimes applied twice a day, for good results. Consider a low power LED one that provides around 30mW/cm2.

With lower power LED devices (e.g. 10mW/cm2) 30 minute sessions twice a day may be needed and may still not be enough for a good result.

In any case, even 10 minutes of even low intensity LED treatment are better than nothing. However, for optimum and/or fast results, relatively higher light intensities will be needed.

Wavelength is also important

Low wavelength treatment cannot be too intense, as it may irritate the - very thin - epidermal tissue (e.g. blue light or even red light wavelengths). As near-infrared light penetrates deeper it can be a bit more intense, as it is absorbed by the thicker dermal and hypodermal tissue layers.

Blue light LED therapy, in particular, should be provided with carefully selected protocols and not be excessive in total energy applied.

I am not mentioning here yellow and green light therapy, simply because there is almost no research on their effectiveness, in contrast to the thousands of publications on blue, red and infrared light therapy.

Treatment depth also plays a role

Also, treatment time depends on whether treatment is meant to be superficial (less time needed, sometimes very little time, e.g. for skin burns) or deep (much longer treatment times may be needed, e.g. for musculoskeletal problems).

There is reciprocity between treatment time and light intensity but extreme variations will not work

Finally, both time and intensity have to be within certain parameters:

• We cannot, for example, apply 4 minutes of 500mW/cm2 treatment in order to make it equivalent to 20 minutes of 100w/cm2. It doesn’t work this way.

• Neither can we expect to apply 10mw/cm2 for 200 minutes and make the treatment equivalent to 20 minutes at 100mW/cm2. It doesn’t work that way, either.

Extreme treatment is counterproductive

In all cases, if too much energy provided - either due to too high power, too long treatment times or a combination of the two - that is not a good idea, as the efficacy of LED treatment reduces in such cases and with extreme energy it may also become unsafe.

So balance - and good training - are key for a successful and safe treatment.

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And for even better, faster results, we now combine our RF/ultrasound treatments with high-power red/infrared light LED treatment.

Our radiofrequency/ultrasound/LED treatments are comfortable, pain-free, downtime-free, injection-free, microneedling-free, 99.5%+ safe and always non-invasive.

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Learn more or check prices and book an expert cellulite / skin tightening treatment at our London clinic (49 Marylebone High Street, W1).

Advanced, infrared / blue / red light therapy treatments in London at LipoTherapeia

At LipoTherapeia we are passionate about phototherapy (also known as photobiomodulation/PBM, red light therapy, infrared light therapy, blue light therapy, LED light therapy etc) and we use the most powerful equipment available today (up to 240mW/cm2), for best results and treatment of large body areas.

We use specialised therapy protocols for skin rejuvenation / anti-ageing, pigmentation / post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation (PIH), moderate/severe acne, skin redness, sensitive/inflamed/irritated skin, wound healing, sports injuries / musculoskeletal pain and overall wellness / well-being.

Our LED phototherapy sessions are comfortable, deeply relaxing and super-safe and are great to enhance our radiofrequency/ultrasound treatments for skin tightening / cellulite reduction.

On our booking page you can book stand-alone phototherapy sessions or combine them with our other treatments, as an add-on.

Learn more or check prices and book an expert LED phototherapy treatment at our London clinic (49 Marylebone High Street, W1).

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