We’ve all been in the search to help us achieve perfect skin. But is it just a dream, or can it really be achieved? It looks like having light shined on your face may be the most important part of your skin routine.

Red light’s anti-inflammatory and collagen-building effects on the skin have been documented for years, showing its healing abilities. However, light therapy is branching out, including other light spectrums such as green, blue, purple, and amber, for different healing abilities. 

Ellen Marmur, a New York dermatologist, said, It has just enough variety that people stay excited to use it.” While many at-home devices are small and require multiple treatments to cover the entire face, masks help solve this issue. 

“It makes people feel good, like they’re taking care of themselves,” Dr. Marmur said. “You can treat your skin while doing other things, so it’s easier to form the habit of doing it every day.”

So How Does LED Work?

LED therapy, known as photobiomodulation, can alter biological matter using varying wavelengths of light.

Jared Jagdeo, associate professor of dermatology and director of the Center for Phototherapy, SUNY Downstate Health Science University, studies LED therapy. “You can alter the skin through photo-damaging with lasers, or photobiomodulation, which is a much more gentle way of changing the way the skin functions,” he said.

When asked why red light works particularly well with skin, he said, “There’s a specific receptor in the mitochondria of the skin cells that red light specifically acts upon. And that’s why red light is an ideal wavelength for changing the way the skin functions.”

Red light can pass through the skin, deeply entering tissue and stimulating the cell’s mitochondria, which results in anti-inflammation and the skin’s rejuvenation. Collagen is also produced in the dermis, smoothing out wrinkles and plumping the skin.

While blue light doesn’t penetrate deeply into the skin, it kills acne-causing bacteria on the skin’s surface. Green light, on the other hand, focuses on melanocytes, reducing excess melanin production.

Is All of This Light Ok for my Eyes?

Eye safety is a valid concern, particularly because earlier this year Neutrogena recalled its LED mask over fears that it could cause eye injuries.

Brain S. Biesman, assistant clinical professor of ophthalmology, dermatology, and ENT at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, states that most red light therapy devices aren’t powerful enough to cause eye damage. “Just normal blinking and eye movements should be sufficient to protect the eyes,” he said. “But never stare at a bright light source.”

More Thoughts

“As far as the F.D.A. is concerned, if I use CO2 laser resurfacing, it better work because of the amount of risk involved,” said Suzanne Kilmer, a clinical professor of dermatology at the UC Davis School of Medicine in Sacramento and director of the Laser and Skin Surgery Medical Group.

“Compare that to a home device,” Dr. Kilmer said. “If it doesn’t kill you, blind you or make things much worse, it’s probably going to get approved. So it’s actually more incumbent upon the people selling home devices to show efficacy. You have to trust the people who are selling them.”

“LED is real, but it’s probably not optimized yet,” Dr. Kilmer said.

With light therapy, various factors help determine the amount of light your skin needs: the light’s strength, the distance from the skin, the length of time the device is used on the skin, and the natural color of your skin.

“Some of these lights on the market are very weak, and they may not have enough energy output to actually have a biological effect,” Dr. Jagdeo said. “Imagine a glow stick. It produces a color. But you could shine it on your face all day, and it’s not going to change the way your skin works.”

Moreover, the medical community hasn’t determined the standardized dose for treating skin conditions such as hyperpigmentation and acne at home. Dr. Marmur chose her MMSphere dosing on Blu-U, an in-office blue light typically used as an alternative therapy for precancerous lesions.

“Consistent Sphere treatment for seven weeks will equal the energy given in the office with the Blu-U,” she said.

Another device, the Dr. Dennis Gross DRx SpectraLite FaceWare Pro, $435, releases red and blue light in a mask format, with each session lasting only three minutes. The mask’s LEDs are in contact with the skin, which may be a more effective treatment.

Dr. Jagdeo said, “This is a tremendously undertapped area in medicine. But LED light therapy is going to revolutionize the way home medical treatment is delivered for skin care over the next 10 to 15 years.”

Kaiyan Medical

If you’re considering developing your own LED facial mask, at Kayian Medical, our team of experts knows what they’re doing. We developed the Aduro mask, the top facial mask in the beauty industry with celebrities such as Julia Robert fans of the Aduro Mask. For more information, visit https://www.aduroled.com/.

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There is hardly a day in my various professional roles as a scientist, science watcher, or clinician without encountering new information or a new scenario that highlights the complexity of biology and biological systems. Such occurrences warrant careful evaluation and oftentimes lead to new management strategies or form the basis for further scientific investigation. This is inevitable as the knowledge base expands and our understanding of the variables potentially impacting our strategies and outcomes increases. We continually learn, re-learn and refine what we do and how we do it. The survival and performance of human spermatozoa in vitro is one evolving story that has far-reaching implications in numerous fields in addition to human reproduction.

Infertility is a problem that affects 15% of couples. Male reproductive issues account for one-third of infertility cases, with another third caused by combined male and female reproductive issues or unknown etiologies. Several strategies, including in vitro fertilization (IVF) techniques, are employed clinically to assist infertile couples in their quest for a successful pregnancy. Viable, strong, and normally motile sperm are critical to the success of IVF. It is well-known that spermatozoa in standard culture weaken and lose viability and motility at 12 hours and that by 42 hours, only about 52% remain viable. Fewer strong and motile sperm reduce the probability of a successful IVF cycle. Protocols that could improve viability and performance of sperm in vitro would be of great interest to clinicians and patients alike.

At low concentrations, reactive oxygen species (ROS) act as second messengers that regulate increases in cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP), the activation of protein kinase A (PKA), the phosphorylation of PKA substrates of the arginine-X-X-(serine/threonine) motif, the phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MEK) proteins and the threonine-glutamate tyrosine motif, as well as fibrous sheath protein tyrosine phosphorylation. These functions are involved in sperm capacitation, acrosome reaction, and oocyte fertilization.

Sperm plasma membranes contain large quantities of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), whereas their cytoplasm contains low concentrations of enzymes that scavenge ROS. High concentrations of ROS overwhelm the endogenous antioxidant defenses of gametes, causing multiple derangements. High concentrations of ROS cause peroxidative damage to plasma membrane PUFA, DNA damage, the depletion of mitochondrial adenosine triphosphate (ATP), apoptosis, and the loss of sperm motility.

ROS are generally short-lived in vivo due to several antioxidant pathways and compounds at play. However, they are known to accumulate in both oocytes, and spermatozoa cultures, both of which can generate ROS in small quantities as required for the fertilization process.

Sommer et al. posited that polystyrene softens in the presence of aqueous solutions. This creates conditions that would cause a nanoscopic layer of ROS to become established in plastic Petri dishes in common laboratory use. This hypothesis was confirmed by evaluating the cell performance of ROS-sensitive cell lines cultured in both polystyrene and ultrasmooth nanodiamond coated Petri dishes. The cell lines tested included mouse P19 embryonal carcinoma cells, murine-derived L929 cells, and HeLa cells derived from human cervical cancer. The nanomechanical softening was demonstrated in subsequent work by this group and others.

The use of nanodiamond surface coating of culture dishes was based on the knowledge that this material is both chemically and biologically inert, with a capacity to bind a nanoscopic layer of water to its surface. Sommer demonstrated that the material and this nanolayer were, for practical purposes, ROS-free. They subsequently reported that culturing human sperm cells in diamond-coated Petri dishes rather than the polystyrene dishes typically used for IVF resulted in approximately 20% greater cell survival at 42 hours in the nanodiamond coated cultures. This confirmed that the culture dishes themselves play a role in sperm survival in vitro. That accumulation of ROS on the polystyrene surface is a causative factor in decreasing viability over time.

Sommer et al. went further exposed the cultured spermatozoa to red light at 670 nm. Light at this wavelength is known to be absorbed by cytochrome C oxidase and other molecules, stimulating ATP synthesis and affecting ROS production, among numerous other activities at the cellular, tissue, and whole organism level. However, the caveat is that the light dose and dose rate are important and that all cells and tissues are not equally responsive to photoirradiation.

They found that the number of sperm cells demonstrating grade A motility was enhanced by nearly 300% after 1-hour contact with the nanodiamond coated quartz Petri dishes compared to the counts obtained for spermatozoa in the polystyrene Petri dishes. They also observed that sperm motility was significantly different after contact with polystyrene and nanodiamond when longer periods of photoirradiation were applied. A 3× higher light dose was detrimental to the motility of sperm in polystyrene plate cultures, resulting in a reduction of counts to those of the control group at 45 and 60 minutes post-exposure. The same light dose delivered to spermatozoa cultured in nanodiamond dishes produced a dramatic increase in progressive motility.

This series of experiments demonstrates that diamond Petri dishes and NIR light delivered at specific parameters energize sperm cells in a complementary fashion, whereas polystyrene Petri dishes exhaust them. The red light counteracts internal oxidative stress due to ROS production in mitochondria by suppressing ROS accumulation and enhancing ATP synthesis. Simultaneously, the diamond substrate prevents the build-up of a layer of interfacial ROS between the sperm cell and surface of the culture plate.

Photobiomodulation (PBM) describes the ability to stimulate or inhibit cellular functions by using light at specific wavelengths, intensities, and dosing regimens. The classically described PBM treatment window is between 600 and 1,200 nm. Light in this portion of the spectrum readily penetrates skin and tissues via the so-called optical window. Light is absorbed by various structures and molecules, primarily molecules that are instrumental in energy production and oxygen delivery.

PBM effects depend upon timing, site of treatment, and treatment parameters (dose). PBM has shown efficacy clinically in accelerating wound healing, reducing pain and inflammation, and benefiting other applications, including the treatment of neurologic disorders and injuries.

The mechanistic basis for the outcomes observed after using photobiomodulation therapy (PBMT) results from the upregulation of intracellular metabolism by increasing ATP production, augmenting other metabolic pathways, and reducing ROS and other free radicals production.

The interaction of photons with cells and cellular structures is a necessary condition for PBM. We have learned that all cells and tissues don’t respond to PBM and that one size does not fit all when determining the dose or treatment course. Different photobiomodulation effects have been described depending upon the specific cell lines and species being investigated. Our laboratory demonstrated that cell proliferation and metabolism in vitro could be influenced by varying the dose frequency or treatment interval of the PBMT (17). We have also demonstrated this same phenomenon regarding wound healing in a murine pressure ulcer model. These investigations underscore the concept that a unique dose frequency combination exists for tissues and cell lines. This specific treatment paradigm must be determined to optimize outcomes and maximally stimulate cellular metabolism and proliferation. Our work also demonstrated that using other treatment strategies will paradoxically cause big inhibition, despite delivering the same total energy.

It is becoming increasingly apparent that biological systems are quite complex. They contain numerous pathways poised to work in concert with, or in opposition to, depending upon the organism's current needs. We are beginning to understand that these systems utilize several common denominator substances and reactions and that these can be manipulated using several forces, including light.

As scientists and clinicians, we apply what we have gleaned from the laboratory to solve clinical problems and to form the basis for further investigations. We often base these decisions on results obtained using various cell, tissue, and whole animal models, presuming that these models are translatable to our specific applications. Careful in vitro studies can be powerful tools that guide the design of whole animal and human trials. They facilitate the efficient and reproducible screening of a matrix of treatment parameters. We presume that the animal models we develop accurately reflect the actual biology and physiology found in nature.

Abolins et al. recently demonstrated that laboratory and wild mice's serological, cellular, and functional immune responses differ. Wild-type mice have a population of highly activated myeloid cells that are not found in their laboratory counterparts. The point here is that laboratory models and laboratory conditions, in all likelihood, do not entirely replicate nature.

Sommers’ work demonstrates that PBM with a red light at 670 nm improves spermatic function and viability in vitro. This effect augments the beneficial effects of using nanodiamond coated culture dishes. It also demonstrates that various cell lines respond differently to similar manipulations. This body of work also highlights the fact that the ubiquitous polystyrene culture dish can have a deleterious effect on outcomes. We would do well to recognize that the seemingly innocuous may not be and that we should remain cautious as we interpret experimental results and attempt to apply them. Every detail matters, even the seemingly mundane.

References

1.  https://www.nichd.nih.gov/health/topics/menshealth/conditioninfo/Pages/infertility.aspx

2. https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21729064-900-ivf-sperm-do-better-in-a-diamond-dish/

3. http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/04/diamond-dishes-could-boost-ivf-success-rates

4. https://www.intechopen.com/books/new-discoveries-in-embryology/reactive-oxygen-species-ros-and-male-fertility

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