Day 16: Whoops

Whoops, I've procrastinated badly on keeping the blog up to date over the last week or so.

Still nothing new to report. I did miss the treatment on Xmas and Boxing day with all the festivities.

(Day 9) Eye Protection

Thought I'd quickly mention eye protection.

As I understand it, there's no UV radiation risk with red light, but light of any wavelength can damage vision if it's too bright.

I've gone through several different eyewear solutions. I've settled on Wink-Ease--they have a small footprint, which means they'll maximize light exposure to the skin around the eyes; and are considerably more comfortable than all types of goggles I've tried.

I find I have to use a two per eye in order to block out enough light to not cause headache (with pain being the body's feedback system, I consider this an adequate amount of blocked light).

Day 8, Day 9

Nothing new.

Day 7

No changes to report today.

Day 6

Nothing new. Again, didn't experience the light hydration that I noted on day 4.

Red light therapy is supposedly accumulative. No changes at this early stage is to be expected.

Day 5

This is my missed post for yesterday (day 5).

Didn't notice any hydration from using light yesterday. Perhaps previous time was just wishful thinking.

Based on other peoples' testimonials I'm not expecting any obvious benefits for at least a few weeks in.

Day 4

Possibly a placebo effect or wishful thinking, but the test side felt ever so slightly less dehydrated than the control side. I stress that the difference was imperceptible to the point that it most likely was wishful thinking.

Still, with dryness being the number one skin complaint for myself (and many people I'm sure), this is a good reason to be optimistic. I guess time will tell if that optimism is well placed.

The "Experiment"

My acnelamp arrived a few days ago. It's the single head 660nm model.

I intend this to be my daily(?) log on the results of RLT (red light therapy).

What I hope to treat with the therapy:
- severely dry skin
- rough skin tone, large pores in certain areas
- acne (the regular type)
- premature wrinkles (I'm 20, they are definitely premature)
- severe flushing due to rosacea - mostly in recess for last ~6 months, but hopefully RLT will prevent a return

All the above problems (except the acne, and flushing) are caused by an adverse reaction to an IPL (intense pulsed light) treatment I had over 1 year ago.

For this "experiment" (I use the term loosely) to be controlled I will treat the right side of my face only. I've started at 15 min once a day placing the light ~4" away from the face.

Results so far (since 13 Dec 2006)

The treatment itself does cause a subtle calming effect to the target area (caused by muscle relaxation, or desensitization of nerves perhaps?). This is perceptible during and a few minutes post treatment.

No perceptible changes to my actual symptoms after three days of use. Early days.