Keeping it Together: Is red light therapy the secret to glowing skin?

Is the secret to glowing, youthful skin zapping your face with red light?

My name is Charles Trepany, and I'm a new member of the wellness team after moving from Paste BN's entertainment section. I've had a deep interest in skincare for a while now, so when I saw that videos tagged #redlighttherapy had garnered over 96 million views on TikTok, I had to find out: Is it legit?

In the videos, users expose their skin to red light in order to treat a wide range of cosmetic issues, including acne, signs of aging and hair loss. Turns out, dermatologists say the TikTokers are actually onto something with this one.

Skincare enthusiasts might reflexively recoil at the idea of intentionally exposing one's skin to a form of radiation. After all, ultraviolent rays from the sun cause a host of problems, including accelerating signs of aging and, at worst, skin cancer.

But red light − a spectrum of visible light around 600 nanometers in wave length − shows promise as a safe way of healing the skin of many issues, says Dr. Danilo Del Campo, a Chicago-based dermatologist. He adds that scientists began researching the effects of red light on the body in the 1960s and found it helpful in healing wounds.

This is because red light, he says, stimulates the production of adenosine triphosphate, or ATP, an energy compound he describes as "the gasoline of our body."

By boosting ATP, red light therapy can heal wounds and stimulate hair growth, he says. Though the largest and most robust studies have shown red light therapy's effectiveness in these two areas, Dr. Del Campo adds smaller studies have shown potential for red light in regulating the skin's oil production, and thereby reducing acne, as well as reducing signs of aging by boosting the skin's collagen production.

"It's still an exciting field that hasn't been explored in large trials yet," he says.

Find out more about red light therapy for the skin here, and keep scrolling for more deep dives from our wellness team.