Dermatology / skin health
Light-emitting diodes in dermatology systematic review of RCTs
Jagdeo J, Austin E, Mamalis A, Wong C, Ho D, Siegel DM. Lasers in Surgery and Medicine. 2018.
A systematic review of randomized controlled LED trials in dermatology found LED treatment to be an emerging, generally well-tolerated modality across multiple skin indications.
Evidence grade
moderate
Effect direction
positive
Panel relevance
partially-replicable
Key findings
- The review focused on randomized controlled trials rather than device marketing claims.
- LED treatments were reported as safe and well tolerated, with mild adverse events such as pigment changes, dryness, erythema, desquamation, or stinging.
- Skin rejuvenation and acne appear more consumer-relevant than clinical-only uses because they involve superficial skin targets.
Protocol details
| Wavelengths | Not reported nm |
|---|---|
| Irradiance | Not reported mW/cm2 |
| Fluence | Not reported J/cm2 |
| Session time | Not reported minutes |
| Frequency | Varied across dermatology trials |
| Duration | Varied across dermatology trials |
| Treatment area | Skin |
| Device type | LED dermatology devices |
Caveats
- This is a broad dermatology review; it should not be treated as proof for every red light claim.
- Protocol heterogeneity limits a single universal home-device dose.