The use of LEDs in the treatment of acne

Introduction: The use of light emitting diodes (LEDs) is a new modality of treatment for acne. The blue and amber lights are indicated for the treatment of acne due to their bactericidal and cellular metabolism stimulation actions, respectively. Objectives: To compare the effects of the combined blue and amber LEDs to those of the isolated blue LED in the treatment of acne. Methods: A randomized, blind clinical trial was carried out with men and women distributed into 2 groups: Group 1 (blue LED) and Group 2 (blue + amber LEDs). The patients were treated in 6 sessions and qualitatively evaluated using 2 subjective tools: a questionnaire and the Visual Scale of Facial Perception and quantit==atively by counting the number of acne lesions. Results: Ten volunteers took part in the study, obtaining a reduction of 1.7 in the psychosocial impact score and of 2.1 in the Visual Scale of Facial Perception, as well as an improvement in the lesions count, with 60% presenting slight improvement and 10% presenting moderate improvement. Conclusions: It was possible to observe that the use of LED was effective in the two groups (both in the self-assessment of improvement and in the reduction of the number of lesions), meaning it can be considered an effective and safe therapy for the management of acne.