“Many people confuse red light therapy / phototherapy / low level light therapy (which works strictly with light and not with heat) with radiofrequency, which works with heat. There are different mechanisms involved and each technology is used for different outcomes. Full analysis below.”
Infrared/red light therapy is based on light, not heat
“Ah yes, LED light therapy, good reminder to use again my RF wand I have at home…”
Don’t confuse red light therapy with radiofrequency (RF)
Advanced, infrared / blue / red light therapy treatments in London at LipoTherapeia
Have a skin tightening/cellulite treatment with London’s cellulite experts
“Ah yes, red light therapy, good reminder to use again my RF wand I have at home…”
This is how some people react when they hear about red light therapy / photobiomodulation, erroneously believing that light therapy works by heating up the skin.
However, this could not be further from the truth. Low level light therapy (LLLT), with either an LED device or a laser, works “cold” and only with light, by stimulating energy production in the mitochondria. This can happen without heat being developed on the skin in appreciable amounts.
In fact, if skin gets too warm or - even worse - hot during red/infrared light therapy, this means that LLLT treatment is unnecessarily strong or even excessive and may cause irritation rather than improvement and healing.
On the other hand, proper radiofrequency does indeed work with heat, stimulating different processes deep in the skin, as opposed contrast to LED/laser light, whose action is much more superficial.
In contrast to proper, i.e., deep-acting, high-power radiofrequency, those home use “RF wands” are both too superficial and too weak to create anything more than a temporary superficial skin heating, which can easily be achieved even with a hot shower or a hot pack.
For this reason, home-use RF wands are generally an expensive waste of money.
In fact, a higher-end home-use LED device - of roughly the same cost - would make much more sense.
Don’t confuse red light therapy with radiofrequency (RF)
These two techniques, red light therapy and radiofrequency, do two totally different things:
Red light therapy helps with skin rejuvenation and healing (but doesn’t help much or fast enough with skin tightening)
Radiofrequency helps with skin tightening and lifting (as well as rejuvenation but in a different way than red light therapy)
Radiofrequency should be hot - but never burning or painful - to work, while if red light therapy makes skin too hot, it is definitely excessive, not effective.
Sure, specific infrared devices aim to heat the skin in order to effect skin tightening, like RF, but those do not confer any light therapy benefits (different wavelength) and they are vastly inferior to deep tissue radiofrequency, which can be much deeper, hotter, safer and more effective.
Advanced, infrared / blue / red light therapy treatments in London at LipoTherapeia
At LipoTherapeia we are passionate about phototherapy (also known as photobiomodulation/PBM, red light therapy, infrared light therapy, blue light therapy, LED light therapy etc) and we use the most powerful equipment available today (up to 200mW/cm2), for best results and treatment of large body areas.
We use specialised therapy protocols for skin rejuvenation / anti-ageing, pigmentation / post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation (PIH), moderate/severe acne, skin redness, sensitive/inflamed/irritated skin, wound healing, sports injuries / musculoskeletal pain and overall wellness / well-being.
Our LED phototherapy sessions are comfortable, deeply relaxing and super-safe and are great to enhance our radiofrequency/ultrasound treatments for skin tightening / cellulite reduction.
On our booking page you can book stand-alone phototherapy sessions or combine them with our other treatments, as an add-on.
Learn more or check prices and book an expert LED phototherapy treatment at our London clinic.
Have a treatment in London with the cellulite experts
At LipoTherapeia we have specialised 100% in skin tightening and cellulite reduction for more than two decades and 20,000+ sessions.
This is all we study and practise every day and have researched and tried hands-on all the important skin tightening equipment and their manufacturers.
As strong, deep acting radiofrequency and deep-acting, high-power ultrasound cavitation are the technologies of choice for skin tightening and cellulite reduction, we have invested in the best RF/ultrasound technologies in the world.
(Of course, we keep looking for new technologies every day and if/when a better technology materialises we will be the first to provide it. However, we will never follow the latest ineffective gimmick, just because it’s good marketing to offer the latest hyped up - yet ineffective and/or unsafe treatment.)
Furthermore, over the last two decades we have developed advanced RF and cavitation treatment protocols in order to make the most of our technologies, for maximum results, naturally and safely.
And for even better, faster results, we now combine our RF/ultrasound treatments with high-power red/infrared light LED treatment.
Our radiofrequency/ultrasound/LED treatments are comfortable, pain-free, downtime-free, injection-free, 99.5%+ safe and always non-invasive.
(No unsafe and ineffective RF microneedling or HIFU and no safe but ineffective acoustic wave therapy, superficial RF (bipolar/tripolar/multipolar etc), low power RF/cavitation, electrical muscle stimulation, lymphatic massage, cupping, dry brushing and no ridiculous bum bum creams.)
Our focus is on honest, realistic, science-based treatment, combined with caring, professional service, with a smile.
We will be pleased to see you, assess your cellulite, skin laxity or fibrosis, listen to your story, discuss your case and offer you the best possible treatment.