Do you struggle with Hyperpigmentation? – LED Therapy

Hyperpigmentation is a common condition where certain areas of the skin appear darker than others. It occurs when extra melanin forms in the skin, resulting in patches that may look brown, black, gray, red or pink.  There are a variety of factors that can contribute to changes in pigmentation, including hormonal events such as puberty or pregnancy, injury to the skin, side effects from certain medications or quite simply, genetics.

Pigmentation concerns are one of the most frequent conditions we treat in our esthetic rooms, so we’re going to take you along on our client’s journey to treat her Hyperpigmentation concerns.

If you read the first part of this series, you’ll remember that our client came to us concerned with Melasma (brown or blue-gray patches or freckle-like spots) and dark spots that occurred after pregnancy, which has resulted in hormonal hyperpigmentation on her cheeks, forehead and around her mouth. 

In order to start the process, we began her treatment plan with a customized Clinical Renewal Facial to help fight dehydration that was causing inflammation and heightening the pigmentation in her skin.  

This first treatment, combined with her at-home care allowed us to move into the second phase of her treatment –  LED lightwave therapy to help calm the skin and suppress excess pigment.

Light therapy is a non-invasive treatment that uses light waves to penetrate the skin’s layers to treat a range of skin issues. There are a variety of wavelengths you can use within LED light therapy, dictated by different colours, where each colour penetrates the skin at different depths and are used to treat different conditions.  In our treatment plans, we typically use Red and Blue light therapy.  Blue light affects the uppermost layer of skin and is typically used to treat acne by reducing activity in the sebaceous glands.  It does this by creating  an oxygen molecule on the surface of the skin and in the follicle and that oxygen kills the bacteria that causes bacteria.  Red light travels further into the skin  and is typically used to decrease inflammation, treat wrinkles, redness, acne, scars and other signs of aging.

Light therapy (photobiomodulation) is one of our favourite tools at Spirit spa and our device delivers a large dose of healing energy to the skin with no down time or discomfort.  Most people find the treatments very relaxing! 

This medical grade LED light session is a quick 45 minute treatment that includes cleansing, toning, a light chemical exfoliation (in this case we used the Dermed Brightening peel) and then 20 mins under the red light, followed by customized finishing products. 

We finished our treatment with Instant radiance EGF serum from Dermed (to hydrate and calm skin) and the Skinceuticals Physical Fusion SPF 50 for protection.

By incorporating weekly light therapy treatments into our client’s treatment plan, we were able to help support the healing of her skin after peels, reduce inflammation and clear/suppress melanin in cells. 

We are very pleased with the progress our case study is making and can’t wait to update again soon.

Have more questions?

We are here to help. Please email us at hello@spiritspa.ca