On its website, the giant Action offers an LED mask at a very attractive price. But is it really worth it? And does it really keep its promises on fine lines and wrinkles? A dermatologist answers us.
LED masks are everywhere. For the face, for the eye contour, for the scalp, the neckline or even the hands… For several months, they have been a real success with the general public. And for good reason, these beauty devices promise brighter skin, fewer wrinkles, but also better healing of the epidermis. But be careful, far from being simple gadgets, LED masks are based on real studies and scientific evidence. They act on the mitochondria, a very small organelle present in the cell, which gives it all its energy. “The cell will capture the energy from the LED and this will make it work a little harder“, explains Dr Martine Baspeyras, dermatologist and spokesperson for the French Society of Dermatology. Each color of LED targets different problems.
On the market, more and more brands have launched their reference with Current Body, Nooance, and Shark Beauty at the top of the list. Prices are generally around several hundred euros. So, without much surprise, the discount giant Action also jumped into the fray. On its site, the brand offers an LED mask with seven different colors, for the modest sum of €11.95. Too good to be true? To put it simply, yes. “They do not announce anything about the precise wavelength (the depth at which the light can penetrate the skin), the real power of the mask, nor how it is mounted…“, deplores Dr Baspeyras. According to the expert, the product can slightly improve the glow of the face but we should not expect much more. It will have no effect on wrinkles and fine lines for example. The merchant does not put forward any clinical studies on the effectiveness of the mask either. “It can be fun as a little relaxing treatment, but for me it’s a gadget. We are not sure of the long-term stability“, she continues.
The second problem? The presence of seven colors in the mask. “Red and yellow are not dangerous. But you should not use blue, if it is poorly dosed it is very toxic for the eye“, says the dermatologist. Worse still, the green LED claimed on the Action mask is fake. As Martine Baspeyras explains, “it is already very complicated to have different LED colors.“But green is made with a rare metal and therefore very expensive to sell.”They have to put filters in front of the LEDs which give the impression to the eye of one color, when in practice they have combined two colors.“
If the mask proposed by Action is not dangerous in fact, the results will not be there. “Honestly, if my patients wanted to buy these LEDs, I would tell them no. The big brands are more expensive, but they have made the effort to do a minimum of research and have consistency. This, for me, is nonsense.“
