Blue Light Acne Treatment

Dermatologist often contradict themselves… We tell patients to stay out of light and sun, but we often use light and sunlight to treat various skin conditions. For psoriasis patients, we use UV light for treatment.  For acne patients, we use blue light to treat their skin.

BLU-U light treatment has been available in our office since 2011. This light treatment is done alone or along with a solution called Levulan (aminolevulinic acid) that increases the potency of the light treatments.  When the solution is used, the procedure is called which we also use to treat rosacea and precancer spots.

Lasers and light are used to treat many skin conditions.  The different types of light are described by their wavelength in nanometers (nm). Some types of light are visible and colored and some are not. Many types of laser and light devices have been tried to treat acne. Blue light has been shown to be the most effective at the lowest cost with no downtime.  BLU-U treatments use a panel of blue colored lights (417nm).  The treatment is painless and lasts 17 minutes.  Patients wear goggles for the treatment and can read, use their phone, or just relax.

BLU-U works to treat acne by decreasing growth of the most common bacteria involved in acne called Propionibacterium acnes.  One recent analysis showed a 60-70% decrease in inflammatory lesions after twice weekly treatments for four weeks.  This treatment is particularly useful for those who cannot take oral antibiotics due to intestinal issues, pregnancy or breastfeeding.  We recommend not using blue light alone to treat acne because it will not treat clogged pores and blackheads which are the beginning stage of acne.  At your acne office visits we can recommend a multi-faceted therapeutic regimen.

There are at home devices light devices used to treat acne as well. These generally are not as powerful as in office treatments, but they can be performed more often at home. We recommend patients try in office treatment first before spending money on an at home device.

Because we want to be able to add this treatment to as many patients as possible in our acne treatment center, blue light treatments are affordably priced for our patients.  Call the office for current pricing.  Most insurances will not cover these treatments, so they will be an out of pocket cost. Patients will not see the doctor at the time of light treatments, so treatment should be a quick in and out procedure.  We recommend twice weekly treatments for 4-6 weeks when clearing acne and as needed once clear.