Phototherapy in a jar?
Do we really need an actual device? The skincare industry is getting smarter with regard to its use of light and bringing light therapies into a jar. A new generation of actives are using the power of light to rejuvenate our skin. In the case of UV light exposure to the skin, this radiation is often thought to have too much energy, which can lead to the chemical breakdown of DNA and ultimately, to skin damage.
However, in the case of the lower energy visible red light (LLLT), it has been shown that certain exposures can lead to improvements in the appearance and structure of the skin. The mechanisms are currently not proven, but theorised to involve absorption of visible light by specific chromophores within or on the skin, which leads to cosmetic benefits in the form of the reduced appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.
Lonza launched BioLumen in 2011, which it says turns UV rays into a healing light. It uses a technology based on fluorescence. There are molecules other than sunscreens that can absorb electromagnetic radiation; these molecules are called fluorophores. By absorbing this energy, fluorophores can change the high energy of UV radiation to a different form of energy called fluorescence. Fluorescence is the emission of visible light by a substance that has absorbed light of a different wavelength. In this technology, a noni extract is bound to a tricalcium phosphate substrate and subsequently dried into a powder.
Ren — a UK brand — has just launched Photoactive Sun Veil, a new sunscreen product using the BioLumen active. It says that ‘fluorophores from noni extract absorbs UV light and boosts elastin and revitalizes’. Sulwhasoo — a South Korean brand — uses a similar active across its range; one of its best-selling products, Snowise Brightening BB cream SPF 50, promotes the technology by explaining that ‘invisible UV rays are converted to visible pink light and promote a clear and bright complexion’.
Beyond the skin
[pull_quote align=”right” ]If you’re chronically sleep-deprived, you don’t perform as well. You are moody and you don’t have as good coping mechanisms.[/pull_quote]Visible light can also be used to make us healthier. George C. Brainard, Director of the Light Research Program and Professor of Neurology at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, has been working on using light to keep our circadian genes in sync. In laymen’s terms, he is trying to use light to help us sleep. Visible light has been used clinically since the 1980s to treat SAD, also known as winter depression, but it’s also being used to treat some elective sleep disorders when the circadian genes are out of sync. In a non-clinical environment, visible light could be used to improve both the sleep and wellbeing of a category of the population whose lifestyle is disrupting their biological clocks, such as night workers, frequent flyers who cross time zones, and the growing portion of the population who have sleep issues. The right wavelength can help night workers going to sleep during the day and help regulate their circadian rhythms. And light therapies could help to fight our jetlag more efficiently.
Brainard is also applying his research to astronauts. On the International Space Station, astronauts average as little as 6 hours sleep over a 24-hour period, even though they are allotted 8.5 hours. And 45% of drugs taken by astronauts are sleeping pills. A new non-drug intervention programme using only light is supposed to help astronauts sleep better, and also to work better.
‘If you’re chronically sleep-deprived, you don’t perform as well. You are moody and you don’t have as good coping mechanisms,’ said NASA flight surgeon Smith Johnston.
The project is to replace the 7-by-26-inch rectangular sockets now occupied by fluorescent bulbs with 100 brand-new LED lamps which will delivered to NASA by 2015. The lights will have three ‘on’ settings: one to boost alertness in the morning by using blue light tones, one to help astronauts relax before bed by using warmer and more reddish hues, and a regular mode for midday. (Blue light was discovered more than a decade ago to suppress the hormone melatonin, which helps regulate sleep. Although we need to remember that melatonin by itself is not a sleep-inducer, it does play a role in regulating the circadian rhythm.)
This project is not alone, and the home‑care industry is coming up with a new generation of lights for our home to help us relax, sleep, and wake-up more alert. It is not a huge leap to imagine new light fixtures in the bathroom that will rejuvenate our skin. Light therapies will be one of the most exciting segments in the next 5 years to protect us from ageing and to cure serious illnesses.
