In 2025 the global skincare industry was valued at 122 billion US Dollars, and according to Fortune Business Insights, the projected growth of this industry is expected to expand to 129.11 billion USD this year. The point is, people care about the appearance of their skin- A Lot! The skin is a complex organ in the human body and serves to separate individual physiology from the rest of the phenomenal world. The health of an individual’s skin can oftentimes reflect the health of the entire body. (1)
What the skin care industry misses, with all of its creams and lotions, is the simple fact that the epidermis is the largest organ in the body, and needs to be kept healthy from the inside out. Most individuals hoping to look and feel their best do not need one more bottle of lotion to cure their skin defects, real or imagined.
A close examination into the relationship between light and skin is evidenced not only in its response to UV light, but also in its upregulation in quality in response to other more subtle frequencies of light. Especially the examination of the invisible spectrum of light called infrared has been shown to drastically improve the presence of collagen and elastin fibers in skin that has been exposed to dose appropriate infrared light.
There is a strong need for non-ablative skin care treatments, not only for a faster recovery period, but also to prevent scarring and infections from occurring. For anyone concerned with the appearance of their skin it seems antithetical to emerge from an expensive treatment with scars on the face or long lasting infections. Furthermore, if facial skin treatment is taken to the furthest extent of a ‘face-lift’, the quality of the skin still matters, therefore improving the quality of the skin so that collagen and elastin are high remains paramount regardless of your approach to skin care.
It may be possible to improve the quality of skin through light alone, not UV light, avoid complicated ablative skin treatments, by engaging in infrared treatment protocols. Unveil the details of the study that brought infrared light to the forefront of skin care for its ability to improve collagen and elastin presence in the epidermis.
While infrared light can work magic for most skin types, find out who should skip this treatment altogether, and what skin conditions should cause you to move forward with awareness and caution.
Perhaps you do not need one more bottle of expensive skin creams, or yet another ablative treatment, but rather a slight pivot toward infrared light to heal wrinkles, fine lines, and other signs of skin aging.
The Light Spectrum: A Basic Breakdown
From the sun emanates all light frequencies, both seen and unseen. Light moves in patterns that create wave-like shapes which is why they are called light wavelengths. These wavelengths are measured using nanometers, and this measurement tells us what type of light frequency is present. While lux is the measurement of illuminance, which tells us how much light is present in a given area.
Depending on what light frequency is present, the body will respond in vastly different ways. For example, short wavelength light such as UV light can induce Vitamin D uptake, but with prolonged exposure can cause damage to the skin as seen in a sunburn or even a tan. Color light, which is visible to the human eye moves at slightly longer frequencies than UV light. The color light can enhance the quality of skin with appropriate dosage.
As light frequencies slow down and grow longer in wavelengths they become invisible to the human eye and can be experienced as heat. This portion of the light spectrum is called infrared light as it exists just on the other side of the visible color red. Infrared light encapsulates 650 nanometers to about 1300 nanometers. Near infrared light refers to the shorter bandwidth existing from 650-900 nanometers, depending on the institution creating the categorization, and far infrared light is generally 900 nanometers to 1300 nanometers. (2)
The study that will be examined and analyzed presently deals with the invisible spectrum of infrared light. So, find out how the researchers were able to determine if infrared light was in fact able to effectively improve the presence of collagen and elastin, the two fibrous proteins responsible for maintaining the smoothness of skin, and regulating the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.
About the Study: How Does Infrared Light Enhance the Quality of Skin in Women Between the Ages of 35 – 61 Years Old
- About the Study: How it Was Conducted
- The Goal(s) of the Study
- The Conclusion and Outcome
Given how important the appearance and health of skin is to many individuals around the world, with a special interest from women older than 35, the study presented here examines this particular global demographic. The National Library of Medicine published an article entitled ‘Effects of Infrared Radiation on Skin Photo-Aging and Pigmentation’ (3) that examined how infrared light affected the objective quality of skin in a group of women.
About the Study:
Twenty women between the ages of 35-61 were enrolled in the study. All of the participants had some signs of photo-aging, or hyperpigmentation. The study lasted a total of six months. The participants were exposed to infrared light for 15-20 minutes a day. The infrared light was set to a temperature between 89 -95 degrees Fahrenheit. (3)
The experiment was measured using photographs as well as biopsies of the skin. The authors describe how the skin quality was assessed during before, during, and after the research when they write this.
“Assessment categories included improvements in small wrinkles, color tone, brown spots, roughness and tightness. Average improvement scores were calculated as the mean of the grading scales of all categories. Categories of the clinical assessment by the medical observer included fine wrinkles, coarse wrinkles, roughness, mottled hyperpigmentation, laxity, and skin tone. Standardized photographs and dermoscopic observations (Coscam CCL-205, Sometech Cosmetic, Seoul, Korea) were reviewed to help the medical observers identify each clinical grade.” (3)
The researchers also measured the skin itself using biopsies from the cheeks and around the eyes. This proved to be particularly important when measuring for objective figures such as the content of collagen and elastin in the skin fibers.
“Skin biopsies with a 2-mm punch were performed on the cheeks for hyperpigmented lesions and on the lateral sides of eyes for wrinkles prior to treatment and 1 month after final treatment. In addition to hematoxylin-eosin stain, special stains such as elastic stain and Masson-trichrome stain were performed to verify the difference in amount of elastic and collagen fibers in the dermis.” (3)
The Goal(s) of the Study
The study hoped to find alternative treatments for photoaged skin that moved away from ablative and invasive treatments that are costly and high risk. The authors hoped to find positive results for photoaged skin after exposure to infrared light. In their own words the authors write about their hopes for this research.
“The present study was undertaken to investigate the effects of IR radiation on collagen and elastin production in dermal fibroblasts and determine its clinical and histologic effects on photo-aged facial skin lesions including facial wrinkles, roughness, tightness, and hyperpigmented lesions.” (3)
The authors further expand upon the need to find nonablative dermal remodeling (NDR) that is equally effective as its alternative, but without the negative effects.
“Recently, nonablative collagen remodeling techniques have emerged as a means to avoid side effects such as oozing and erythema due to the complete removal of the epidermis in direct ablative methods.” (2)
The possible success of using nonablative dermal remodeling is explained thoroughly by the authors in this statement.
“Nonablative dermal remodeling (NDR), a recently developed procedure also called non-ablative skin rejuvenation or subsurfacing, does not disrupt the epidermis, and is a better tolerated alternative to ablative laser resurfacing. NDR is designed to selectively confine thermal injuries of the papillary and upper reticular dermis without causing epidermal damage, and thus induce fibroblast activation and synthesis of new collagen and extracellular matrix material.” (2)
The results from this six month long study were both in photographic evidence, as well as in biopsies of the skin after the infrared light treatment were remarkable!
The Conclusions From the Research
Causing damage to the skin through procedures such as chemical peels, dermabrasion, and other disruptive procedures that initially damage the skin may not be necessary, provided infrared light can be accessed on a regular basis, according to the researchers.
“Using this concept, the need for gross damage of the epidermis merely to improve the surface may be unnecessary, as thermal effects to the dermis, without subsequent injury to the epidermis, can be induced with IR radiation.Therefore, we investigated the effects of IR radiation on collagen and elastin production in fibroblasts as well as the clinical and histopathologic effects of infrared radiation on facial skin, especially on photo-aged skin lesions such as roughness, tightness, wrinkles, and hyperpigmentation.” (3)
Not only did the results prove to be very positive during and after this study, there were not any notable negative side effects. Infrared light does not burn or tan the skin and therefore does not cause photo damage the way that excessive UV exposure does. The authors clearly state that this long wavelength photo therapy will not harm the skin.
“There were no instances of pigmentary alteration or burns due to treatment, and all of the treatment sessions were generally well tolerated with minimal complaints.” (2)
So, what exactly happened to the collagen and elastin levels in the participants during this study?
Collagen and Elastin Uptake in the Participants Exposed to Infrared Light
The most remarkable aspect of the study was found in the skin biopsies of the female participants. Most notable was the uptake in collagen and elastin fibers. Skin was measurably softer and smoother when the proteins collagen and elastin were populated at higher rates in the epidermis.
As early as 2 hours after exposure to infrared light for a mere 15 minutes collagen levels were higher in the participants.
“Total soluble collagen was increased 2 hours after IR radiation exposure, relative to controls, and total content increased with the duration of IR radiation exposure.” (3)
In addition to the increase in collagen, elastin was also increased a mere 1 hour after exposure to infrared light.
“Soluble elastin also increased 1 hour after infrared radiation compared to the control. Similar to collagen, the content of soluble elastin increased with longer durations of irradiation.” (3)
If beautiful high quality skin is the name of the game it appears that minimal, yet daily exposure to infrared light is key.
In all subjective categories, according to the participants in the study there was a statistical improvement.
“The average improvement score, as evaluated by patients, was 1.88, which was statistically significant (p < 0.05). The grading scale in the category of roughness and tightness was 2.55 and 2.45, respectively, indicating a 51-75% improvement. The grading scale of skin color tone was 1.95. The grading scale of small wrinkles was 1.8, indicating fair improvement (26-50%).” (3)
The only category that did not show notable improvement was hyperpigmentation.
“Unlike the previous categories, however, hyperpigmented lesions showed minimal improvement.” (3)
If your primary skin concern is hyperpigmentation or melasma, infrared light is probably not the answer for you. There may be other forms of phototherapy that will help to rectify hyperpigmentation and melasma.
Infrared Light Will Not Improve Melasma or Hyperpigmentation, but Green Light Frequency Will
Exposure to infrared will likely not worsen the condition of melasma or hyperpigmentation, but it will not improve it notably. Furthermore, high heat, especially as found in a sauna of any type, including steam rooms, may worsen hyper-pigmentation and melasma. Proceed with caution if either of these skin conditions are your primary area of concern.
The researchers from the study analyzed here write this about hyperpigmentation and infrared light.
“Histopathologic examinations indicated that there was no significant difference in the basal hyperpigmentation after 6 months of treatment relative to the control group. Neither the depth nor the amount of solar elastosis in the dermis was significantly different after 6-months of treatment with IR radiation.” (3)
If you are looking to heal hyperpigmentation or melasma with phototherapy, then consider working with green light frequency. According to a paper published by the National Library of Medicine entitled: ‘Low‐energy green light alleviates senescence‐like phenotypes in a cell model of photoaging’ (4) green light frequency appears to help with hyperpigmentation, but is better served as ‘pre-treatment’.
While there is some evidence that green light frequency (Green light is a visible light wave with a wavelength of 532 nm) may help ameliorate hyperpigmentation. The researchers found that it was better to use it before exposure to UV light rather than after the photodamage was done. Still other bodies of writing indicate that green light therapy in medicinal settings can help reduce hyperpigmentation.
“In terms of skincare, green light therapy excels in addressing pigmentation issues by targeting melanin clusters and preventing them from surfacing, effectively reducing discoloration and age spots.” (5)
While the research on greenlight phototherapy is not nearly as rigorous as it is for infrared light, this may be an option for those wanting to improve hyperpigmentation.
Trade Out Ablative Therapies For Infrared Photo Therapy For Beautiful Radiant Skin
The data clearly demonstrates that infrared light is an effective means of upscaling the level of collagen and elastin in your skin. Infrared light is most concentrated naturally in the early mornings and in the late evenings as the sun is setting. It is also possible to harness this light spectrum in hand held devices as well as in infrared saunas.
As the researchers write in this paper ‘Effects of Infrared Radiation on Skin Photo-Aging and Pigmentation’ the positive effects of infrared light are undeniable.
“Our study showed that IR radiation increased the amount of total soluble collagen and soluble elastin in fibroblasts and demonstrated that could result in clinical improvement in skin texture. The clinical effects were, however, gradual, with a mean improvement of 25% to 50% achieved after 6 months of treatment, and roughness and tightness of the skin was improved in all of the 20 patients enrolled in the study. Fine wrinkles were at least fairly improved in all patients, but hyperpigmented lesions of the skin were not affected with IR radiation.” (3)
Instead of harming your skin with invasive therapies, or buying one more bottle of expensive cream, consider using infrared light to enhance collagen and elastin levels for healthy and beautiful skin.
You can safely access the benefits of infrared light for the entire body of skin in an infrared sauna. If you choose to do this here is the recipe.
The Recipe: Infrared Sauna For Boosted Collagen and Elastin:
- Set the temperature very low 105 degrees Fahrenheit as a maximum (unless you are choosing to sauna for other health reasons such as cardiovascular or for detoxification.)
- Sit in your sauna for 15-20 minutes daily, or as close to daily as possible.
- Continue to do this over the course of at least 6 months.
- If hyperpigmentation is present then be sure to turn your green light therapy on
If you are using your sauna for other health goals, turn the temperature up to your desired level and still benefit the skin with infrared light.
Remember to drink plenty of water, eat nutritious meals, and avoid the sun when UV levels are high as this can cause photodamage to the skin.
If you are unsure about using infrared light to improve the quality of your skin then consult with a dermatologist.
Save your money and stop buying expensive creams and lotions, and turn to infrared light for smooth collagen rich skin!
Please know that there are safe non-invasive methods to create beautiful glowing skin at any age. Infrared light may be the most effective means either through natural sun-light exposure (at dawn or dusk) or through harnessed devices such as an infrared sauna.
If you are unsure if infrared technology is appropriate for your skin type please consult with your dermatologist.
Sources Cited
- https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/skin-care-market-102544
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/light-spectrum
- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2687728/
- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10084420/
- https://www.foreo.com/mysa/green-light-therapy-beauty-health-and-well-being-benefits
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/biochemistry-genetics-and-molecular-biology/fibroblast-culture