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Green News Now: Light Therapy for Sun Damage

I know Light Therapy is not the first thing you think of to help with sun damage. Its sounds crazy to use light to heal damage caused by light but the spectrum of light used in light therapy is quite different from what we get from the sun. This FDA approved technology is used for sun damage, wrinkles as well as acne and even cancers, but how does it work?

Light therapy is a non-toxic and non-invasive therapy that uses light energy to repair and regenerate skin cells. The procedure reduces the need for medication, improves the outcomes for treated skin conditions and increases the recovery rates of affected tissues.

During light therapy red spectrum is applied to the area of sun-damaged skin. The light transmits photons about three inches deep into the skin. Mitochondria in the skin membranes absorb the red light, causing an increase of adenosine triphosphate levels, leading to an increase in healthy cell production. The process also promotes healing by increasing production of collagen, enzymes and cell growth. The increased collagen helps prevent scar tissue from forming.

But what about blue spectrum? Blue light therapy is also commonly used to treat sun damage as well as premalignant or malignant skin cancer growths. It has also be used to prevent skin cancer and remove both precancerous skin lesions and cancerous skin lesions that haven’t spread to other areas of the body (or metastasized) with the combination of a photodynamic drug.

Photodynamic therapy can be used to treat skin cancer. It causes the photosynthesizing drug that’s been applied to the skin to react with oxygen, killing the cancer cells. It may also be used to trigger an immune system defense or damage the blood vessels feeding the cancer cells.

Blue light therapy has been used to treat other types of skin issues such as to improve skin texture and reduce sebaceous hyperplasia, or enlarged oil glands. It can also help with removing sun spots, acne, and even scars that were originally caused by acne.

So now we know light therapy can help with skin health but it has also been linked to help in other areas of health as well. We all know we need sunlight to produce vitamin D and plants need light to grow but what else can light therapy do for humans? Light therapy affects brain chemicals linked to mood and sleep, easing SAD symptoms. Using light therapy may also help with other types of depression, sleep disorders, hormone imbalance, detoxification and other conditions. For more information please visit us at Get Me Some Green in Hoods Crossroads or see full articles through links below.

Refences:

https://www.mayoclinic.org › light-therapy › about › pac-20384604

https://www.healthline.com/health/blue-light-therapy#purpose-and-uses

https://www.webmd.com/melanoma-skin-cancer/skin-sun-damage-treatment#1

https://www.asds.net › Skin Treatments › Laser/light Therapy