LED Therapy
How long do LED treatments last?
Treatments times are approximately 30 minutes depending on skin type and condition treated.
Is LED treatment painful?
No, it is totally painless. Most people describe the treatment as feeling pleasantly warm.
Is there any preparation for the treatments?
No, there is no pretreatment preparation other than removing makeup and any topical creams on the skin before treatment.
How far apart are the sessions?
The treatments need to be at least 48 hours apart, so you can have up to three sessions per week.
How many sessions are required?
Six to eight sessions are required.
Are there any side effects of LED therapy?
Repeated exposure to LED can make the eyes very sensitive. Hence, eyes are protected with goggles and clients are asked to close their eyes during the treatment. People with a Fitzpatrick skin type 4 to 6 (moderately brown skin that doesn’t burn and tans well) may experience temporary bronzing which is normal and will subside within 48 hours.
Does it cause skin cancer?
No, there is no evidence that LED therapy causes skin cancer.
Who should not have light therapy?
Anyone suffering from the following conditions:
- Porphyria
- Epilepsy
- Autoimmune diseases stimulated by light e.g. lupus
- Congenital retinal disorders
- Solar urticaria
- Photophobia
- Taking photosensitising medication i.e. that make you burn more easily when out in the sun eg. lithium, phenothiazine, antipsychotics, roaccutane, isotretinoin, and certain antibiotics
- Pregnant or breast feeding or trying to conceive
- Diseases that affect the retina of the eye
- Had significant sun exposure or used a tanning bed in the last 4 weeks
- Used artificial tanning lotion in the plast 2 weeks
What is the difference between different at-home and medical grade LED machines?
One of the major issues we face with the specifications of LED within the aesthetic industry is that the majority of manufacturers refer to the power of their devices based on the input power consumption (like light globes) and not the resulting output therapeutic light intensities. With the Xen LED we specify the output light intensity. Xen LED uses 3rd generation Chip-On-Board (COB) technology to combine three wavelengths-415nm, 633nm and 830nm in 10,500 precisely aligned diodes, delivering high photon intensity and fast full dosage treatments in less time. With this large number of LEDs, Xen uses 3,500 LED’s for each of the three colours it delivers. In comparison, other well-known professional brand devices are only capable of utilising up to 1800 LEDs when using the less efficient SMD style of LEDs. Furthermore, many of the low-end home use systems run much less and are in the low 100’s. For liability reasons, most at-home LED devices are weak as they legally must carry very low to no risk of cumulative eye damage. This becomes obvious when you see that most smaller devices and face masks do not require a heat sink to dissipate heat, since they don’t produce high enough output to generate any heat. Low power means low quality results In most cases we see all of these manufacturers quote their intensities in regard to input power and not in relation to output therapeutic light, hence their output power is much lower than stated. Also, many at-home devices and clinics offer other colours (wavelengths) e.g. yellow, purple, green, however these colours don’t have enough clinical evidence behind them to justify their use. Consumers need to have realistic expectations about at-home LED devices and understand that most of these products will require very long term consistent use and likely only yield modest results.