Blue Light Therapy Pens for Acne or Varicose Veins?
For most people, having clear skin is a priority. Even if your skin condition doesn’t cause you physical pain, you may experience psychological harm, depending on the severity of your condition and how visible your problem areas are.
For example, about 85% of people will experience acne at some point in their life. Yet, when you suffer from an acne breakout, you often feel like the only person in the world dealing with this problem. Severe breakouts can lead to serious issues like self-isolation, low self-esteem, anxiety, and depression.
Varicose veins are another common skin condition, suffered by an estimated 23% of U.S. adults. Like acne, your varicose veins can cause mental distress — and they can also be quite painful.
Acne is most likely to affect people between the ages of 12 and 24, while varicose veins usually affect individuals over 40. No matter your age or which of these conditions you’re living with, you may have considered a blue light therapy pen as a treatment option. Want to learn more? Read on.
What Is Blue Light Therapy?
Blue light therapy uses the power of blue and violet wavelengths of light to penetrate the skin, promote healing, and kill acne-causing bacteria. This type of treatment can be performed in the comfort of your own home with an easy-to-use handheld device. A blue light therapy pen is one option.
Blue light therapy is most effective for treating issues on the skin’s surface or just below the surface because the short wavelengths of blue light can’t penetrate deeply into the body. The healing properties of blue light have been clinically proven to even out skin tone, improve skin texture, and shrink the skin’s sebaceous glands, which are responsible for oil production.
Blue Light Therapy for Acne
Most notably, blue light therapy has been proven to kill the acne-causing bacteria that live on your skin’s surface. Normally, when this bacteria is introduced to pores already clogged with excess oil, dirt, and dead skin cells, the result is an acne breakout.
By killing the bacteria, blue light therapy kills the bacteria in existing blemishes and helps prevent future breakouts. Blue light may also have anti-inflammatory properties, which could ease the symptoms of an existing acne breakout.
Blue Light Therapy Pen for Acne
Despite blue light therapy’s benefits, the most effective light therapy treatments use both blue and red light to fight acne. Red light has additional healing properties that can clear existing breakouts and reduce the appearance of acne scars.
Red light promotes healing on a cellular level by penetrating deeper into the skin than blue light. Damaged tissues and cells heal faster, leading to quicker results from your light therapy treatment.
Because blue light therapy pens don’t include red light therapy, they aren’t quite as effective as a device that uses both light wavelengths.
Blue Light Therapy for Varicose Veins
Now you know how blue light therapy can treat acne — but what about varicose veins?
Varicose veins are blood vessels that have become enlarged due to increased pressure. When pressure increases in a vein near the surface of the skin, the vein expands in size and becomes visible, leading to the condition commonly referred to as varicose veins.
If you’re like most varicose vein sufferers, varicose veins particularly affect your legs. This is because common activities like standing, walking, and running put more pressure on the veins in your legs, making it more likely that those blood vessels will become enlarged.
Varicose veins don’t often cause additional health problems, though they can sometimes lead to ulcers, bleeding, and blood clots. The worst symptom most people experience is discomfort from the increased pressure in their blood vessels, such as aching or throbbing. However, it’s unlikely you’ll feel severe or sharp pain. If you do, contact your doctor right away.
Many people don’t experience discomfort, but dislike varicose veins because of their lumpy physical appearance. This is why some have turned to blue light therapy as a solution. While there is no clinical evidence proving blue light therapy is an effective treatment option for varicose veins, some products claim to relieve the swelling and redness of pressure-induced blood vessels.
Blue Light Therapy Pen for Varicose Veins
Though blue light therapy has not been scientifically proven to help with varicose veins, there are some products that claim to achieve positive results. For example, the HIPFATE brand Varicose Veins Treatment Blue Light Therapy Set includes a Blue Light Laser Treatment Pen and Anti-Varicose Vein Soothing Cream.
According to Amazon reviews from verified buyers, this blue light therapy pen and accompanying cream are effective. Out of the 3,684 global ratings as of this writing, this product has a 4.6 stars out of five, with an impressive 78% of those reviews being 5 stars to date. With an affordable price of only $14.87, it’s not a financially risky investment.
Generally, light therapy pens are portable, and most are easy to use. Light therapy pens are usually rechargeable, meaning you don’t have to worry about tangling cords or minding plugs while using your device.
Final Thoughts
A blue light therapy pen is an affordable alternative to in-clinic light therapy treatments performed by a dermatologist or esthetician, which are not financially accessible to many people.
If you’re looking to fight acne breakouts, blue light therapy pens might work, but there’s a reason there aren’t many on the market. Instead, consider a light therapy device that uses both blue and red wavelengths of light. You’ll thank us later.
Studies proving blue light therapy can effectively manage varicose veins are lacking, though stellar Amazon reviews on certain blue light therapy pens may indicate it’s worth a try. However, because varicose veins are a more significant medical issue than acne or spider veins, we recommend consulting with your physician before trying a blue light therapy pen for treatment.