The $1 At-Home LED Facial

by Elizabeth Siegel

COURTESY OF ILLUMASK
COURTESY OF ILLUMASK

If you haven't had an anti-aging LED facial, the experience can be unnerving at first: You wear special sunglasses while a panel of bright red LED lights wraps around your face. And, of course, just one session can cost hundreds of dollars. But devotees (including top facialists, their celebrity clients, and even some dermatologists) swear that the machines make skin firmer and glowier, and that the more often you get the treatments, the better they work. Now, a company called Illumask is selling an at-home version.


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The Illumask Anti-aging Phototherapy Mask looks like a hockey mask and has built-in glasses and LED bulbs; it's also got a price tag of $29.99. For that you get 30 preprogrammed treatments. (It's available at Ulta, Target, and Walgreens.) "Theoretically, the red LED lights are anti-inflammatory and stimulate the production of more collagen, reducing wrinkles. Just be careful not to play with the mask if you're not wearing it, because turning it on and off quickly counts as one session, and you only get so many," says Joshua Zeichner, the director of Cosmetic and Clinical Research in Dermatology at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. While the company's own tests suggest using the device smooths wrinkles, "the question that remains is how well it compares to a professional-strength LED facial, since even their efficacy has been called into question," says Zeichner.


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Given its price tag, the Illumask may be the perfect option for those who are tempted by LED facials--and not put off by a little uncertainty.

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