Transcription
I have spent way too much money on LED devices, and I have been absolutely scammed by some and very impressed by others. As an aesthetician, I use these on myself, but I also use LED on other people, and we got to rank the best and worst LED treatments specifically for red light therapy. Obviously, some of these toggle through different lights, but I'm going to be specifically sharing red light devices because red LED has the most data on it, and we actually know scientifically that it works.
There have been so many studies looking at red LED and how it works in the skin. We know that it helps with reducing inflammation, boosting collagen production in the skin, and we know that depending on how strong the LED is, it can actually stimulate hair growth, such as what is done for the scalp. Now, these are not powerful enough to stimulate hair growth, so they're not going to be growing anything on the face, but some of these are powerful enough to actually help with the skin, whereas some of these aren't even powerful enough to be considered an LED device in my opinion.
We've got to start out with the worst. If you see this, run! If you see this on TikTok shop, on Amazon, anywhere, please go the other direction. This has got to be one of the worst things I've ever seen and ever used; it's a complete scam. This was called The Phantom Face Mask, and I saw these everywhere. This is basically an LED disaster. If you plug it in, it does light up barely, but it also kind of shocks your face. It literally sent some electrical pulses through and shocked my friend's face when she tried it. When I tried it, first off, it barely worked, but these little doohickeys would press into the face and actually give you a headache.
It's also got this jock strap that doesn't even keep it on your face and comes with this neck piece that is just a disaster. Not to mention, they give you this little handheld remote that allows you to control it, and it says "facial whitening device." First off, facial whitening? Are you serious? Like, wow, colonialism strikes again. Anyway, even outside of it saying facial whitening, even if that was someone's twisted goal, that's not what LED does. LED doesn't do that at all.
Listen, I understand things like language barriers can impact these kinds of things, but this has got to be one of the worst devices in the entire freaking world. If you see this, run the other direction. It is not even worth $5; it's literal trash. Goodbye!
Now, a close second is one that I don't even have with me because it's that bad. Do you remember the Foreo UFO? This is like a handheld device, and it's supposed to do more than LED; it's supposed to be cryotherapy. So it warms up and cools down. Forget the cryotherapy; the LED on this thing is a joke. It's a small little strip of LED that they try to claim has benefits to the skin. This thing is barely powerful enough to get light into the skin. Not to mention, when I actually tried to sign up for it, it had me sign up in Russian, and it wouldn't connect to my app. It was just a disaster.
Foreo does have some good products; they do have a couple of facial cleansing devices that are nice, but the UFO was a disaster. Then they sell you face masks that are little circles, and you have to buy the little circles and swap them into the mask, and you're paying more than the price of a normal face mask for these small little circles that are filled with crap. This just goes to show that there are some really scammy products out there, and it's so unfortunate because especially when we're looking for something, we're spending our hard-earned money on it, and we want it to work. A lot of these brands will just shove down our throats that it doesn't, and even as a professional, I've purchased those things and have been heavily disappointed.
This is another one. This happens to be the brand from Loom, LM, but I've literally seen this from like five different brands. This is trash. Let me explain why. First off, this doesn't even protect the eyes; there are no little eye holes. Secondarily, it's not even bright enough to actually make an impact on the skin, and it doesn't even penetrate that deep. Specifically, red LED performs best between 630 and like 710 nanometers, but a good 655, even like a 660, is great.
Well, I remember I tried to measure this at one point, and it came out more orange than it did red. It was just an absolute mess, and there are so many brands selling the same thing, just putting a different name on it. This tells me that it's probably some drop-shipped piece of crap. If you see something like this, it's not even powerful enough to make a difference. If you want to waste your money on some plastic, then fine, but like trash, literal trash.
What I look for in LEDs is that there's an actual bubble—there's an LED, which stands for light-emitting diode—and a bubble underneath it that actually disperses the light if you want it all over the face. This does not do that. I really bought a lot of trash.
Next, we start to get into the stuff that kind of works. For example, I've seen these from like five different brands. This is the one from Current Body Skin. This one was not terrible, but it wasn't great. I like that this one actually melds to the contours of your face, so you can put it on, but the ear straps don't really work, so you have to have the jock strap in the back that secures it to your face. They actually have a body version of this; I feel like the body version is better; it's more powerful.
This one, look at how few diodes it has; it doesn't even have that many diodes, and again, they're not the bubbled type. They don't have that round dome on them, but anywhere that that diode is not directly smashed into the skin, you're not really getting the benefits. Yes, red LED does penetrate through skin; that's literally why if you ever hold a flashlight to your ear or your hand, have you noticed that it looks red? That's not the blood in your skin; that is the red wavelength being the longest wavelength that can actually penetrate through the skin.
So yes, some of the red wavelength can penetrate a little bit in the surrounding areas, but to get the most bang for your buck, you want something that does have that bubble or that dome and actually disperses the light evenly throughout the skin. I've seen a lot of influencers, a lot of just people online using this. I've actually had an aesthetic client who used it as well, and Current Body does have some really good stuff, but I feel like stuff like this just is disappointing.
It kind of makes you question the other things in the brand as well. Again, if you have this, it's fine; it's not bad the way some of the other ones are. It can probably work; it's just probably not going to work as quickly or as effectively as you need it to. At least it protects the eyes a little bit, which is kind of nice, but I just feel like there are better things out there for the price. So if you have it, continue using it and loving it; you don't have to go get something new, but just be aware that if you haven't bought this yet, the ones that literally look like this that have different brand names written on the top are probably just mass-manufactured, and they're slapping a name on it, so that's frustrating.
Now, there's also this guy. This is the Solar Wave, and I ended up getting this after I saw so many celebrities on like Harper's Bazaar using this. This is a little LED device that actually lights up on the skin, and you can either move it around or you can hold it in one spot for targeted results. Now, this is not the best bang for your buck if you're looking for full LED benefits. This is not going to work all over the face and be a miracle. If you have a specific wound, a specific blemish, or a specific area, yeah, you can hold this on that area, and it can be quite helpful.
I love this for travel because it's very compact, and I have been a huge fan of this just because you can really target this area. It's less expensive than a lot of the other LED devices on the market. For example, these can be $300 to $500; this one you can get on sale for like a hundred bucks, and it's very portable. Now, I've been a huge fan of this; it actually helped me heal up a huge burn that I had on my chest. This plus a cream was magical.
The problem is, if you're looking for all-over benefits, this probably isn't going to be your best bet. Not to mention, I always thought of this as just LED. Then I started reading the package, and the package changed, and then they started to say that it has microcurrent. I'm sorry, I've never felt a microcurrent benefit from this, and you would need to have a circuit of electricity that connects at two different probes. I don't see two different probes on here to actually create an electrical circuit. Then they were saying it has vibrating technology. I'm like, "Bruh, you did good with the LED; don't try to bull me on these other claims that I don't think are substantiated."
So this used to be higher up on my list; it kind of got knocked down a few just because of the way they were marketing it, and I felt that that was a little bit deceptive. But I really like it for little blemishes, for specific wrinkles or fine lines. If you really want to target a specific area or if you're traveling or on the go, this is probably the least expensive option; it's the best entry option. But again, I do have some qualms with it, and then sometimes it stops working randomly. It only is supposed to work when it's pressed to the face, but do you see how sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't? I don't know what is causing that, but mine started doing that after I took it on a plane, and I just don't know how to fix it.
But this right here is fantastic for those little marks, especially these that I have on my forehead. Now we start to get into some of the good stuff, and I'm going to specifically share the things that I recommend for at-home use—the top tier, top of the list. Some of these I actually use in clinic on other people. Now, for clinic, I can share a little bit about the pro stuff that we use, but for home, these are two of the best options. While both are good, I do feel like there are some differences.
First off, this is the Derm Beam Pro. This is one of my favorites. It does have multiple wavelengths, but again, we're talking about the red. It is powerful enough, it is strong enough, and it is the right wavelength. Now, I like this because it actually has these little glasses things to them, so when you wear them, they're actually pretty comfortable. Because of this, you can actually see through it, so you can wear this while walking around. It holds a charge really well, so you don't have to have it plugged in. On top of that, look at the eye protection; the eye protection is sealed off really well.
Even though the Derm Beam Pro is like $119 or $150, this one from Dr. Dennis Gross is like $400 to $500. This is really good; we're going to talk about this in a second. But you can see this kind of has eye protection, but it doesn't necessarily seal off the area, and that's why I'm a huge fan of this. When you turn this on, it does go through different LED options, but can you see how the LEDs here are actual bubbles? These bubbles, these domes, are so important and so essential because you're getting that LED, and then it's being dispersed throughout the skin.
Also, look at how many there are; look at how many LEDs on this compared to something like this. This actually gives you a great dosage; it's easy to wear, it's easy to use, and it's comfortable. For the price, this is one of my favorites, and it was actually really difficult to say which one is better between the two. I think it depends on how you would use it and whether or not you're price sensitive.
So while this one is great, it has different colors, and again, it's the right wavelength of LED and the right power, Dr. Dennis Gross has done something right. Now, this is much more expensive, so if you don't want to pay $400 to $450 for this, this is a wonderful option. However, Dr. Dennis Gross has actually done studies on it; they've actually done really good before and afters, and they did a good job with this. Not to mention, do you see how this doesn't just have the little bubbled domes, but this entire thing is lifted?
It does come with a little strap. Again, I use this in clinic on other people, so I don't put the strap around their head; I'm just having them lay down, and then I place this on top. Of course, I sanitize it and put it in the UV sterilizer after every use, but this works really well. The contours fit the face; even with the strap on, it doesn't hurt your face, it doesn't dig into your skin, and again, the eye protection—I do wish it was sealed off a little bit more, but it works relatively well.
Dr. Dennis Gross has done a great job with LED; it's rechargeable, so you can wear it around the house, and you actually have quite a few diodes on it, which is nice. They have the diodes in the nose as well, which I really, really, really like. Whereas this, it's not as comfortable to wear because you see it doesn't really fit to the contours of your face. It feels fine, but this is a luxury option because it fits to the contours of your face. For at-home use, this is one of my absolute favorites.
Again, like the Derm Beam, you do get different color options if you so choose to use those. But again, if you want a budget option, you can get them. This is something that I use in clinic because of how it fits to the face and how well it works. But I also use the LightStim and the Saluna; those are more professional devices. If you ever want me to share pro devices, I can. I have a hard time recommending them, though, because the Saluna is like $900, and even the LightStim panels can be thousands of bucks. But that's what we use in clinic; those work really well.
What I love about those is that yes, you can use them on the face, but you can use them on the body too. Whereas this, it's kind of hard to use on the body, right? I guess you could shove this on your shoulder. Look, I look like an old Viking! Or maybe—wait, that's a pirate. What did Vikings say? Somebody help me with my Viking lingo! I guess if you wanted a body option, then the Current Body could work because even though this has a face on it, you could slap it to the chest, or I guess you could wrap it around the arm.
LED is also fantastic for muscles. If you put this around muscles because you're an athlete or if you got an injury on the body, red LED can really help. So that's another use case for these. But overall, these are the two best at home. If you want details about things like the LightStim or the Saluna, I'm happy to share those in the future. Actually, now that I think about it, LightStim does have an at-home option, don't they? I used to use that years ago, but I feel like I lost it a long time ago.
Anyways, I also lost my knowledge of Viking lingo, so I guess there's a bunch that I have to brush up on. Obviously, these are only red LED. If you want a video on blue LED for acne in the future, let me know because, oh boy, have I tried some blue acne LED devices, and do I have bests and worsts for you! But overall, these are my aesthetician opinions on the best and the worst.
Here's a checklist with everything we spoke about on what you can look for if you're looking to buy an LED. Make sure that it checks these boxes, look into it, and then make sure it fits your budget. Remember that the device that works best for you is also the one that works for your budget and for your needs and the way you use it. These two are my favorites; these are my top picks. But obviously, if you're someone on the go all the time, this is going to be way better. Or if you're someone who wants to use this on the body or for sports injuries, maybe something like this will be better.
So it's important to keep all of that in mind. Either way, if you want a video on the actual science behind LED and how it penetrates into the body, we could even explore a couple of diagrams and maybe even do some experiments showing you how different light penetrates through the skin or into the skin. But overall, do remember to stay hydrated and reapply that sunscreen because what good is using LED for collagen stimulation and for anti-inflammatory benefits if we're going to be inflamed and destroy our collagen in the sun?
Also, post a comment if there's a red LED device that I didn't mention and you want me to buy and try so that you don't have to. But most importantly, always be beautiful both inside and out. I love you, and I cannot wait to see you in this next video. Love you guys, bye! [Music]