Lightstim LED Device
EDS Skin Care Forums Forum Index » Skincare Tools & Do-It-Yourself Skincare

free skin care · Tue Oct 17, 2006 9:29 am

Just wondering if anyone has used the
Lightstim Led light.

I would like to know how your experience has been?

If you could share that would be great.

Thank You.

free skin care · Fri Jan 26, 2007 8:42 am

Mermaid Girl.

I have a great tendancy for Redness. As I use it about every other night, my redness has been reduced. It's not totally gone, but I don't have to wear as much makeup now.

I really don't like to be red. So, it has helped, I can say that.

free skin care · Fri Feb 09, 2007 1:43 pm

Wow. I hope you will give us all the benefit of your experience with the Buerer laser. Sounds very interesting.

How much has it cost you?

free skin care · Fri Feb 23, 2007 11:33 pm

The lightstim is now being sold on ebay for $174 with free shipping. This is cheaper than the sale price on the lighstim website, where the cost plus shipping comes to $199.67 (189+10.67). If anyone is on the fence, this is a pretty good price for photorejuvenation price. I ordered one.

free skin care · Fri Nov 02, 2007 4:56 pm

Mars wrote:

Hi, Guys, I've just been on the Platinum Skin website. It seems the customers there don't use any tools/devices. They use copper, TCA, glycolic, and salicylic acids to get tight, clear,even-toned, youthful looking skin. I've had my Derma Wand for about 2 wks. now. Can't tell if there's any improvement yet. I was looking into an at home microdermabrasion machine and/or an LED facial rejuvenation light. Now, I'm wondering, do I need such devices or just invest in high quality acids and coppers? I don't have a ton of money to throw away.

I'm waaaaaay confused. Neutral

Thank you for your advice.

IMO, you need to use both. High quality skin care products and devices complement each other and enable you to see the results much faster.

free skin care · Fri Nov 02, 2007 5:04 pm

Hi Mars.....I don't want to invest a ton of money in skin care products either. "Platinum Skin" products are good, but not worth the fortune they cost...

Check out the cellbone (.com) website. You can buy individual vials (approx. 25cc's) of acids, copper peptides, etc. and add them to a good quality moisturizer. You'll have a years worth at least, for little more than you'd pay for just one of their products.

I have LitghtStim + Derma Wand and I love them both. Be careful with the DW in the beginning though.. I was a little too aggressive with it, and the result was broken capillaries. I've since reduced the setting to 4 and the problem is solved.

Hope this helped! Smile

free skin care · Fri Nov 02, 2007 5:07 pm

IMO, you need to use both. High quality skin care products and devices complement each other and enable you to see the results much faster.[/quote]

I wholeheartedly agree with you!

free skin care · Sat Nov 03, 2007 9:08 am

Mars wrote:

Good morning, How long before you saw a difference with your Derma Wand? Also, which derma roller (brand) would you recommend for scarring? Has anyone tried Crystal Lift Microdermabrasion Machine or any other home microderm machine? Thank you! Smile

I've only been using the Derma Wand about a week. At first, I was too aggressive and had broken caps as a result. I since only use it at setting #4, and I'm now seeing outstanding results. My biggest problem is bags under my eyes, and they have much improved in only a few days. I'm pleasantly surprised!

I don't use the Derma "Roller", but results I read elsewhere on this board suggest it works. (Do a search!)

I have the Neutrogena Dermabrasion gizmo, but only use it occasionally. I can never find the "crystals" to replace what's now gone. The results I found using it were good though. Very nice polished healthy skin.

Sorry I can't help with the scarring issue. I'm sure someone on the board will jump in here with suggestion's though. Or look through the other forums and I'm sure you'll find answers.

Hope this helps!..... Exclamation

free skin care · Thu Jan 17, 2008 10:58 pm

If anyone is interested in buying one of the LightStims, they have a 10% off special through next week..

The code when purchasing is JANUARY08

http://store.lightstim.com/

Kassy

Sat Jan 19, 2008 5:00 pm

Hey,
I found these neat coupon codes for LightStem's products. I entered them at checkout. Enjoy!

Free Shipping - BUST44SHIP

10% Off Anti-Acne Light - BUST44ACNE

Smile

free skin care · Fri Jan 25, 2008 7:18 pm

Kassy_A wrote:

If anyone is interested in buying one of the LightStims, they have a 10% off special through next week..

The code when purchasing is JANUARY08

http://store.lightstim.com/

Kassy

I just jumped off the fence and ordered the new anti-aging LightStim.

I'll let you know what I think a week after I start using it.

Kassy

free skin care · Thu Jan 31, 2008 2:20 pm

Okay, I received the new "Anti-Aging" LightStim two days ago and used it twice. I'll keep my thoughts to myself till the end of the week, and then post a new topic for this professional model.

Kassy

free skin care · Sun Apr 20, 2008 10:04 am

CTYankeegirl wrote:

Anyway, the reason for my post is, did you guys mention that you got lotions or creams with your Lightstim? The antiaging one just comes with instructions an adapter & carrying case.
Thanks!!

Nope, what you received is all I got.. You can use any lotions or creams of your choice, or nothing at all..

I alternate; sometimes I use vit C, sometimes anti-oxidant cream and sometimes nothing.

If your skin is on the dry side, you might like to use something, if you tend to be oily, just use the light. When I started with this new light, my skin was combination. Now it is totally normal, and I'm just using vit C and sunscreen for the most part on a daily basis.

The most beneficial advice I can offer, is to cleanse and exfoliate prior to using the light. I believe it allows for even better penetration.

free skin care · Thu May 01, 2008 11:24 pm

rileygirl wrote:

Kassy, do you feel your results were just due to the LS, or do you feel it was a combination of products you use and LS combined? Sorry if that is a silly question, but I am trying to decide if I should spend the money on this or not!

Hi riley; The only 'silly' question is the one that remains unasked.. Very Happy

I feel with 100% certainty that a total plan has come together to give me terrific results. With that said, I would also be remiss, if I didn't tell you that I wholeheartedly believe that LED therapy can take credit for 80% of my success. I also love and use Derma Wand a couple of times a week, and I believe that the oxygenation it gives my skin is also a very healthy benefit.

The only other thing I use on a regular basis lately is my homemade vitamin C serum every morning, and my eyelash concoction every night. I also still use alpha hydroxy souffle occasionally.

I also dabble with DIY and have made a couple of very potent anti-oxidant creams and lotions. Up until about a month ago, I alternated my LED use with and without the cream or lotion. For EX; If I did an LED treatment 3 times a week, one would be with a cream, another with nothing and the last with a lotion or vit C serum. In the last month my skin is totally normal. It's not even dry after cleansing the way it always had been. Now and then I put a bit of lotion here and there, but I honestly don't need it.

So that's about it Riley. I really have a very plain and basic plan going on, but my skin is liking the "less is more" aspect of it. Is it for everyone? Of course not. Would it work for some people? Absolutely.

While I'm at it, and have somewhat of a book going here, I'd like to tell you (and whomever else is reading this), what hasn't worked for me;

NuFace
Suzanne Somers Face Master
Connie Stevens Time Machine
Dermal Tone (by the time I figured it out, it broke.. Sad

)
copper peptides

So at this point riley, I'm actually quite happy that the LS + DW were money that was finally well spent.. Very Happy

I wish you luck in whatever you decide to do regarding LED's. And I hope that what I've shared is helpful to you.

free skin care · Fri May 09, 2008 8:05 pm

Hi everyone - Bought the AAlightstim about 10 weeks ago. Am very pleased with it as it has
really helped my skin in so many ways --
plumped the cheeks, diminished the "neckbands"
although they're still there mildly; evened out
the tone on my face, crow's feet have diminished only slightly, the nasolabial lines
have diminished, and the facial skin has a glow. Also been using on my hands and I have
very thin skin on my hands; however, the skin is
thicker and the blue veins don't protrude as
much. The first 6 - 7 weeks I used the
device abut 5-6 times a week and now use about 3 times a week. I hold on each area for 3 or
4 minutes. Will probably go down to 2 times a week for a while and see what happens. My face
looks as good as when I had IPL a couple years ago. You can really feel the strength of the lights so this machine was a terrific investment!! HTH - DiPhx

free skin care · Fri May 09, 2008 9:28 pm

Mars wrote:

HI, Who is Joniann? Is there a link? Thanks!

Here is the link:
http://store.lightstim.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=003

free skin care · Sat Aug 08, 2009 9:23 pm

I thought I'll update my results after a week of consistent everyday use although I skipped it yesterday.
Okay Im not sure if it's the lightstim or the dermaroller, but I think my skintone has become slightly more even. Previously my cheeks are were white and translucent and the t zone area is darker and thicker looking.
I guess it's the lightstim since I only first started using the dermaroller few days after I got the lightstim.
My red marks and spider veins (is that what you call it?) are still there though. Im going to keep using it everyday and hope for better results.
Kassy, you love the lightstim right? What are your thoughts on the dermawave? Im lemming for it now. LOL.

free skin care · Sun Aug 09, 2009 4:07 am

Kassy_A wrote:

Okay, just want to suggest that you talk to Keliu or another roller girl who used the LED, because I believe you are suppose to let the inflammation from dermarolling do it's thing, uninterupted.. So I'm thinking it's not to follow the DR up with the LED for many days.. You should check with the roller girls. Maybe Keliu of one of the others will chime in here.

Here I am!! Kassy is right when she says that the general thought was to not use an LED device after rolling - that it was best to just let the inflammation do its thing. However, I was one that chose not to follow that advise and would quite often do a treatment straight after a roll because it calmed me skin down quite a bit.

Then I read this article in Elle magazine. I posted it on another thread but here it is again:

Here's a great article on inflammation found in June's US Elle magazine.

http://www.elle.com/Beauty/Makeup-Skin-Care/Inflammation-Friend-or-Foe/Try-these-skin-care-tips-to-prevent-aging-only-on-ELLE.com2

I think it's interesting to see that Dr. Brandt gives a Gentle Waves treatment after using a laser - I've quite often used my LED after dermarolling but have been worried that I was cancelling out the whole process - it would seem not (according to the good doctor anyway).

Inflammation: Friend or Foe?

The truth behind inflammation, plus skin care products to keep redness and wrinkles at bay
By Maggie Bullock | June 16, 2009 3:00 p.m.

Photo: Steven Krause

Omega-3 tablets, green tea lattes, antioxidant serums: Chances are, you’re already engaged in the fight against inflammation. Medicine’s biggest, baddest buzzword gets more headlines than Lindsay Lohan (albeit in different publications). It’s the subject of countless studies and theories; the basis of more than one “lifesaving” diet (see: Mediterranean, Weil, Perricone); and is, according to one skin care entrepreneur, “the single biggest cause of aging.”

On the flip side, inflammation is a large part of why laser resurfacers and acid peels and—according to some experts—even doctor’s-best-friend Retin-A actually work. Each of these engineers a small injury that causes skin to repair itself—which it does through inflammation. No one’s saying you should break up with your derm or toss your tube of Retin-A, but the conflicting claims give pause: Why is one form of inflammation killing us and the other making us prettier—and how are we supposed to know the difference?

But first, perhaps a better question: What is inflammation? That’s the funny part. At its core, inflammation is basic biological border control—a very good thing. Whether you cut your finger or get sneezed on by a flu-ridden colleague, your immune system deploys specialized repair cells, including mast cells and macrophages, that signal waves of other cells and chemicals to arrive on the scene. The cascade is not unlike gut-renovating a house: Enzymes demolish the damaged tissue, then other workers come in and build it back up. Finally—ideally—the body senses the job is done and shuts down the process.

How much inflammation each of us has is believed to be partly genetic, but smoking, allergens, UV rays, pollution, and hormones (stress-related cortisol, for one) can provoke more of it. Cells in the skin and
intestines, for example, are constantly working to kick out the irritants in everything from Marlboros and Doritos to plain old tap water.

Perhaps because of this constant assault, many experts now believe that our repair machinery can get out of whack, stuck in the “on” setting. Chronic inflammation—the bad stuff—has been linked to cancer, heart disease, and Alzheimer’s. In the case of heart attacks, inflammation in the blood vessels can weaken the lining of artery walls and cause fatty deposits, or plaques, to rupture, forming vessel-clogging clots. Autoimmune disorders such as lupus and rheumatoid arthritis are, in fact, prime examples of inflammation gone awry; the body has turned its inflammatory (i.e., immune) response on itself, repeatedly assaulting healthy cells in the joints, nerves, and connective tissues.

Though the basic process is the same throughout the body, all inflammation is not created equal—different kinds give us different sensations. If it’s in the brain, we get a headache (hello, hangover); in the liver, stomachache or nausea; in the intestines, upset stomach and cramping. And much of it lurks undercover, an unseen, uninvited guest that we can’t feel at all.

But what, you may well be asking, is it doing to my face? In skin, high levels of inflammation produce exactly what you picture: the redness—and sometimes pain, itching, and flaking—that anyone who suffers from eczema, psoriasis, or rosacea knows all too well. It’s not the infection, per se, that makes these conditions so uncomfortable and unsightly—it’s the body’s war against them. The condition known as chronic actinic dermatitis, in which badly sun-damaged skin becomes dry, scaly, and itchy? That’s inflammation too.

And while clogged pores and built-up oil contribute to the miseries of acne, the condition is also caused by bacteria, which incites—you guessed it—inflammation, sometimes leading to pain and scarring. This can become a particularly vicious circle: Stress also causes inflammation, which leads to acne, which leads to more inflammation, and so on.

But even if your pores are Cate Blanchett– perfect, the day-to-day inflammatory response to pollution, smoke, and UV light is inevitably taking its toll. These irritants unleash free radicals, which attack skin cells’ protective membrane, allowing them to become dehydrated; this ushers in molecules that break down collagen and elastin and release toxins, including more free radicals. The result doesn’t just show up as redness: It’s also part of the spots and wrinkling that we all recognize as aging. “It’s an ongoing, everyday process, and it’s happening to all of us,” says dermatologist Fredric Brandt, MD, who has offices in New York City and Miami.

Just how many of our spots and wrinkles this is responsible for is unknown. As for the potential magnitude of the role inflammation plays in aging, Joel Gelfand, MD, an assistant professor of dermatology at University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, points to an extremely rare—and nightmarish—inflammatory condition, acquired cutis laxa, in which skin loses elasticity and hangs in loose folds. “It’s a very unusual clinical event,” Gelfand says. “But it occurs because inflammation is eating up the elastin, which leads us to believe that inflammation may be a cause of elastin breakdown in the skin. But that’s just a hypothesis. We need studies.”

The danger isn’t just aesthetic. “There is a line of thinking that certain kinds of repeated inflammation can create a nurturing environment for skin cancers,” says Kevin Cooper, MD, who chairs the department of dermatology at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland and was recently recognized by the American Academy of Dermatology for his research on inflammation. “We do know, for instance, that sometimes a wound that doesn’t heal and is chronically inflamed can get a skin cancer inside of it. That makes us worry a little bit that chronic or repeated wounds might raise our risk of cancer.”

While skin cancer has long been assumed to be caused by the DNA mutations inflicted by UV rays, now researchers wonder how much of the problem is, in fact, the body’s self-defense response to the sun—inflammation. A study published last year illustrated the potential of chronic inflammation to help a cancer grow. Scientists at the Lankenau Institute of Medical Research in Philadelphia gave mice a single dose of a carcinogen, then exposed them to a poison ivy derivative twice weekly for 20 weeks. The steady irritation of the poison ivy confused the body’s immune response. Therefore, IDO, an enzyme whose job is to shut down the immune response, suppressed the defense troops, allowing precancerous cells to develop into tumors.

Cooper predicts sunscreen will one day have an “immune protection factor” rating, similar to SPF, which will measure a cream’s ability to prevent the immune suppression caused by sun exposure. “Is skin cancer the direct effect of UV light on the DNA of the skin? Or is inflammation alone causing it? Probably both,” says Washington, DC, dermatologist Tina Alster, MD. “We don’t know which one is more important.”

All of which leads to the big question: Why on earth would patients pay their dermatologists thousands of dollars just to incite this process?

New York City dermatologist David Orentreich, MD, explains the theory behind these short, sharp bouts of inflammation: “Take the new fractionated CO2 resurfacing laser. It burns skin in a precise, controlled fashion. But the body responds as it would to any burn, removing the damaged components, sending in workman cells.” Due to the nature of the injury, this results in smoother, younger-looking skin instead of an unsightly scar. “Little dots of light make tiny holes in the skin’s surface,” he says. “The healthy tissue surrounding each of the holes knits back together.”

Of course, laser-wielding docs are quick to point out that the inflammation they’re causing is short-term—and productive. “You have to separate the chronic inflammation that causes aging from the acute inflammation caused by treatment,” Brandt says. “Acute stimulates the skin’s repair system, laying down new collagen. But afterward, the white cells in your body issue a termination statement, and it stops.”

“You have to do a little bad to get some good,” Alster declares. “Right now, there’s nothing better than lasers to initiate a new collagen response. There is no topical product that can do that. But the word here is controlled injury.”

Years ago, doctors would prescribe oral steroids to calm post-treatment redness and irritation. “Over time, we realized the inflammation was actually helping to increase the end benefit,” Orentreich says. “Maybe we should do less to quench it.” Now, for the sake of patient comfort and convenience—after all, less downtime makes a procedure sound a whole lot more appealing—there’s an increased interest in modulating the response without quelling it entirely.

For example, after performing fractionated resurfacing treatments, Brandt regularly pops patients in front of the GentleWaves LED panel of yellow light for 35 seconds. “It calms the inflammation and the activity that breaks down the collagen. You want to wound the skin but shorten the inflammatory cascade,” Brandt explains.

Alster recently published a paper in The Journal of Dermatologic Surgery detailing a split-face test: Post-Fraxel resurfacing, she flashed only one side of the face with GentleWaves and left the other alone. The GentleWaves-exposed side recovered quickly, with a day or two less swelling and redness. Interestingly, a week later, both halves had the same cosmetic benefit.

But anyone who’s tried to camouflage an aggravated, overtreated complexion knows that inflammation isn’t just inflicted by high-power laser. What about the irritants in our own bathroom cabinets: rough scrubs and intense peels; harsh, drying cleansers; potent topical treatments? Retin-A (and its fellow prescription retinoids Tazorac, Avage, and Differin) helps lay down new collagen by kick-starting the wound healing process, but it also makes most patients red—at least until skin becomes conditioned to tolerate it. Devotees have been using Retin-A for 37 years; it is a proven antiager and, by regulating cellular turnover, it may have cancer-fighting benefits. But if it works by causing inflammation, wouldn’t daily use make that chronic?

Brandt maintains that most products are not inflammatory as long as they’re used properly. Common sense comes into play: If something continually makes your face red and irritated, well then, don’t use it.

Alster agrees. “People who keep pushing the envelope with inflammation may be doing more harm than good,” she says. “When they come into my office looking very red from using Retin-A, I say, ‘Well, don’t get to that stage. Figure out what works best for you.’ ”

Like every expert interviewed for this article, Alster argues that there is more evidence in favor of acute inflammatory procedures and creams than there is against them. “We don’t know how much inflammation is good and how much is bad—that differs from person to person,” she admits. “But saying that anything that causes inflammation is bad for you? That’s really going out on a limb.”

Still, says Case Western’s Cooper: “Will the kind of inflammation that’s being created by these [dermatological] procedures be helpful in the long run or could it have a dark side down the line? It’s unclear. But it’s reasonable to raise the question.”

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