Light Therapy Acne Spot Treatment: Your Options Explained

With all the disagreements and infighting in today’s world, here’s something we can all agree on — acne is the worst. Just when you think you’re going to have a perfect day, you look in the mirror and find a big, swollen pimple! Bonus points if it’s positioned on the tip of your nose or in the middle of your forehead.

Your breakout may have ruined today, but with light therapy acne spot treatment on your side, tomorrow will be better.

Is Light Therapy Good for Acne?

Light therapy might seem like a complicated treatment option if you don’t know much about it, but it’s really quite simple!

Different wavelengths of light have different effects on your skin and can treat a wide variety of conditions, including acne. In just a couple sessions, the wavelengths from a light therapy acne spot treatment can reduce signs of inflammation (such as swelling and redness), reduce the appearance of acne scars, and rejuvenate your skin. Light therapy can even help with acne wrinkles!

Acne wrinkles are often a result of chronic breakouts. When the pores of your skin continuously swell from inflammation and acne, your skin cells will break down. Over time, this damage appears like tiny dents in your skin, sometimes referred to as pockmarks.

Pockmarked skin is more likely to suffer from signs of premature aging, including wrinkles. Thankfully, recurring light therapy treatments can even skin tone and texture over time, reducing the appearance of wrinkles and pockmarks.

Blue vs. Red Light Therapy

When it comes to light therapy, two of the most effective wavelengths are red and blue light. Thankfully, you don’t need to choose one over the other! A combination of both blue and red light is the most effective light therapy acne spot treatment.

Blue Light Therapy

Due to its antimicrobial properties, blue light therapy destroys the acne-causing bacteria (the most common of which is P. acnes) and other pathogens that live on your skin, preventing future breakouts. In other words, blue light therapy prevents acne from forming in the first place!

Red Light Therapy

While blue light therapy has several preventative properties, red light therapy has several healing properties. Red light therapy reduces the severity of current breakouts, making it an excellent feature of light therapy acne spot treatment options.

Just a few healing effects of red light therapy are:

• Increased blood circulation
• Reduced inflammation
• Stimulated collagen production
• Faster wound healing
• Even texture and skin tone
• Reduced wrinkles and pockmarks
• Smooth scars

With all these amazing healing properties, it’s no wonder red light therapy is so effective at treating acne!

At-Home Devices for Light Therapy Acne Spot Treatment

Thanks to advancements in the science of light therapy, light therapy acne spot treatment is now available to complete from the comfort of your own home. Let’s look at a few popular devices!

Luminance RED ClearBeam Acne Device

The Luminance RED – ClearBeam Acne Device is a renowned FDA-cleared light therapy acne spot treatment device. This class II medical device uses both blue light therapy and red light therapy to ensure great results.

First, the Luminance RED – ClearBeam Acne Device blasts away the acne-causing bacteria on your skin using medically-optimized blue light. Then, the skin-renewing properties of the red light expedite your skin’s healing process and drastically reduce your chance of developing acne scars.

In a clinical study, the Luminance RED – ClearBeam Acne Device healed or significantly improved 77% of pimples within 24 hours or two treatment sessions. This means that in about a day, your light therapy acne spot treatment could deliver serious results.

At $349, the Luminance RED – ClearBeam Acne Device is the most expensive device on today’s list. However, the product comes with a six-month, 100% money-back guarantee and flexible finance options through Shop Pay and Klarna. Plus, it’s FSA- and HSA-eligible and ships in only two days! Why not spend a little more on something that really works?

ESPADA Blue Light Blemish Treatment

If the ClearBeam Acne Device is beyond your budget, consider the ESPADA Blue Light Blemish Treatment, produced by the Swedish beauty brand FOREO. At $119.25, it’s a much more affordable option, and also comes with flexible payment options.

Because this FDA-cleared medical device only uses blue light therapy, along with pulsations, to eliminate acne-causing bacteria, the ESPADA Blue Light Blemish Treatment is best used for preventing future acne breakouts rather than addressing current ones. For the best results, FOREO recommends pairing the device with their concentrated BHA + PHA Blemish Solution gel, claiming the gel penetrates deep within your skin’s surface to treat current breakouts.

Neutrogena Light Therapy Acne Spot Treatment

At $100, the most cost-effective device on this list is the Neutrogena Light Therapy Acne Spot Treatment. Unlike the ESPADA device, this FDA-cleared option from renowned skin care brand Neutrogena uses both blue and red light therapy to prevent future acne breakouts and treat current ones.

A huge appeal of this product is its innovative design. The light emits from the tip of the device, which caps over a pimple or small area of your skin, fully surrounding the blemish in blue and red light.

While no longer available on Neutrogena’s website, this light therapy acne spot treatment device is available for purchase on Amazon. While there’s no money-back guarantee listed, you can earn 5% cashback with an Amazon rewards credit card.

Light Therapy Acne Spot Treatment: Final Thoughts

Frequent acne breakouts are no picnic. Thankfully, there are multiple options for light therapy acne spot treatment, and you’re guaranteed to find one from this list that works with your skin care goals and budget. What have you got to lose?