Full Body Red Light Therapy Before and After

The photos speak for themselves.

Some show diminished wrinkles. Others, tighter, younger, and healthier skin. Some show acne loss or clearing of dermatitis.

Here is one Reddit post showing a woman who had hyperpigmentation. In this before-and-after set one woman shows a remarkable and clear transformation, with a loss of wrinkles, loose skin, and a generally more youthful look that belies her age.

And, in this pair of photos, all the cellulite that was in a woman’s leg has basically disappeared. This woman looks like she has had years of aging reversed, with a noticeable reduction in wrinkles, and a general fresh, rejuvenated look, from the folds in her neck to her hair.

Each has a story to tell. But there is a common thread – and it is the benefits of full-body red light therapy. Red light therapy (RLT) is just what it sounds like: exposure to red light either by wearing a mask or a specially outfitted hat, sitting in front of a column of lights, or by lying in tanning-like bed. But, unlike tanning or exposure to sunlight, RLT does not harbor any harmful UV rays. In fact, it has no real side effects.

The health benefits, meanwhile, are myriad. They include reduction or relief of a wide range of skin conditions from wrinkles and other signs of aging to scars, acne, dermatitis, psoriasis, hair loss, and wound healing. And the benefits go beneath the skin: RLT can also assist with fat loss, muscle soreness and injuries, and improved athletic performance. This therapy can also alleviate pain, fight viruses and bacteria, curb inflammation, and even enhance cognitive functioning. These effects are both well documented by scientific studies (such as these studies here, here, and here) along with the many firsthand accounts of patients and influencers who have tried the therapy and are grateful they did.

RLT is not a miracle cure; it’s a treatment grounded in solid science. It works because of what it does at the cellular level: the red light waves interact with structures in the cell known as mitochondria, which then produce a number of important molecules like nitric acid and ATP. The light also spurs the body to produce collagen, the connective tissue necessary for younger healthy-looking skin, among other roles it plays in the body.

Along with the before-and-after photos, are videos of influencers on YouTube, describing their firsthand experience with RLT. For example, this stuntman spent a year using RLT, with 10 to 15 minute sessions three to five days a week sitting in front of a cylinder-like device that shines the red light at him. In this video, he breaks down each area of his body where he saw a change.

In his back and sides, he noticed the skin got tighter. On the top and back of his head, his hair thickened. And one persistent scar almost completely faded away. Each of these effects is documented in before-and-after photos featured in the video. (See here, here, and here for the corresponding discussion in the video, along with photos when available.)

Then he goes into the ways his muscle health improved. While RLT therapy did not eliminate fatigue after a workout, it did help with the soreness. It also cut the recovery time for acute injuries in half and minimized the ache he felt from longer-term injuries. (See this segment of the video.)

Other influencers have shared their own stories of RLT. This influencer used RLT to tackle aging, acne, and hair loss, declaring that he was seeing “insane results” from the treatment. One woman used it as part of her beauty and skincare routine for a month and saw marked changes.

Her video telling her story includes some before-and-after shots. “I still feel really excited by the results I have seen in such a short period of time, and for that reason I’m excited to continue using it, and red light therapy is 100 percent something that I am a proponent of based on the research I’ve done in combination with my personal experience,” she concluded.

Even one skeptical doctor who thought RLT was a scam changed his view after looking into it and experiencing its benefits for himself. “If I were to tell you that a certain kind of light could help you combat aging, increase skin health, improve your metabolism, improve recovery from athletic performance, improve mood, cognition, could help you health from injuries, would you believe me?” the doctor said in his video on RLT. “Yet there is a certain type of light, called red light therapy, which is evidence based and currently is in talks by big scientists.”

At the end of the video, the doctor describes the “surprising” results, noting that one of his older medical colleagues found relief for chronic shoulder pain while RLT therapy helped him avoid soreness on his gym days.

And this doctor is hardly an outlier when it comes to assessing RLT. There are other doctors on YouTube who endorse it was well, as this dermatologist, and this orthopedist.

The before-and-after effects have also been borne out in scientific journals, such as the photos in this study which shows the changes in wrinkles and skin roughness in women who had undergone RLT. The study also contains a different kind of pair of before-and-after photos – ultrasonography scans which reveal the increased density in collagen production after the treatment. A table in the study puts the results into hard numbers, showing the increases in skin complexion, skin feeling, collagen density, and wrinkles in patients before and after the RLT trial. When firsthand accounts align so closely with scientific studies and expert opinions from doctors, the evidence for how transformative RLT is from the surface of the skin to deep within the body is too compelling to ignore.