Why does nobody talk about LED masks causing breakouts at first

I started using one of those red light LED masks three weeks ago and my skin got way worse before it got better. My esthetician told me it is a purge from the increase in cellular turnover, not a reaction to the mask itself. Has anyone else dealt with this and stuck it out through the ugly phase?

3 comments

3 Comments

hugo_ellis2mo ago

I'd push back a little on the "cellular turnover" explanation. In my experience, what actually happens is the mask is warm and traps moisture against your skin, which can mess with your skin's microbiome. I noticed the same thing with mine and it turned out the warmth was feeding some yeast or bacteria that was already on my face. I switched to using it after letting my skin dry completely for 20 minutes and that helped a lot.

mason.paige18d ago

oh yeah i totally went through this with my mask last year, it was kinda rough. i actually almost gave up on it but then i started using it for way less time like only 5 minutes at first instead of the full 10 or whatever the instructions said. what really helped me was making sure my face was completely clean and dry before putting it on, no serums or anything, because i think the wetness was trapping stuff against my skin. after a couple weeks i slowly worked up to longer sessions and that seemed to let my skin adjust without freaking out as much.

lisa_jones212mo ago

Bought one of those masks last year and totally forgot I had it on for almost an hour while binging a show. Woke up the next morning with what looked like tiny red bumps all over my chin. I actually stopped using it for a few weeks and then tried again but with a super thin layer of niacinamide serum underneath, and somehow that worked better for me. Not sure if it was the serum or just my skin getting used to it, but I never really figured out the whole purge thing.