Red Light Therapy Before and After: What Changes, and When
Red light therapy before and after, measured in trials, looks like this: no change in lines after one session, changes that instruments pick up from about four weeks, lines that a trained assessor can see are softer at about eight weeks, and the largest change at about twelve. In one of the largest skin trials, doctors comparing photographs without knowing who had been treated judged wrinkles improved in 69% of the people who had 30 sessions of red light, against 4% of those who had none. The change is real but modest: smoother texture, denser collagen, softer fine lines. We have no customer before and after photos to show, and we will not borrow or stage any, so this article uses measured numbers instead. It also explains why two photos of the same face can differ with no change in the skin, and how to take a pair of your own that you can trust.
What does red light therapy before and after look like in trials?
Smoother skin, denser collagen and shallower fine lines, measured with instruments and graded from standardised photographs. The table gives the before and after figures from five trials.
| Trial | Who and how | Before and after |
|---|---|---|
| Wunsch 2014, 128 people: 57 on red light, 48 on broadband light, 23 untreated controls | Full-body red light units, 611 to 650 nm, twice a week, 30 sessions (figures are for the red-only group) | Collagen score on ultrasound up 5.75 points from a baseline of 20.4, against a fall of 0.26 in controls. Roughness down in the treated, up in controls. Blinded doctors saw wrinkles improve in 69% against 4% |
| Lee 2007, 76 people, split face, sham-controlled, double-blind | 633 nm, 830 nm or both, twice a week for 4 weeks | Wrinkles down by up to 36% and elasticity up by up to 19% from baseline in the treated groups |
| Couturaud 2023, 20 people, no control group | 630 nm mask at home, 12 minutes twice a week for 12 weeks | Crow's feet depth down 38.3%, skin density up 47.7%, roughness down 23.8%, pore diameter down 32.8% |
| Rocha Mota 2023, 137 women, split face | 660 nm on one side, 590 nm on the other, 10 sessions in 4 weeks | Wrinkle volume round the eyes down 31.6% with red and 29.9% with amber |
| Russell 2005, 31 people, no control group | 633 and 830 nm, 9 sessions | At week 12, 52% of people scored 25 to 50% better on a photoageing scale |
Sources: Wunsch, Lee, Couturaud, Rocha Mota, Russell. Read the figures with their limits in mind. The studies without an untreated comparison (Couturaud, Russell, and Rocha Mota, where both sides of the face got light) cannot separate the light from skincare, season and expectation, and the Lee figures are maximum values. Trials on masks in particular are in do red light masks work.
What changes week by week?
Density and pores move first, lines and elasticity follow. Lines and roughness change fastest between weeks four and eight, and the curve flattens by week twelve.
| Measure | Week 4 | Week 8 | Week 12 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crow's feet depth | down 15.6% | down 34.7% | down 38.3% |
| Skin density on ultrasound | up 26.4% | up 41% | up 47.7% |
| Roughness | down 6.8% | down 18.2% | down 23.8% |
| Pore diameter | down 28.5% | down 30.7% | down 32.8% |
| Elasticity | no significant change | up 17.1% | up 18.7% |
These figures come from the 20-person Couturaud study, which had no control group, so treat them as the order in which things move and not as a promise of size. In a sham-controlled trial of a home mask, independent raters could not yet separate the mask group from the sham group at week 4, and could at week 8 and week 12. Park 2025. No trial has shown a change in wrinkles after a single session. The glow straight after a session is extra blood flow, and it is gone by morning. How long red light therapy takes to work has the full timeline.
Do the results last after you stop?
For at least a month in the studies that checked, and partly for six months in one.
In the Couturaud study, measurements 14 and 28 days after the last session were no different from the end of treatment. In the Park trial the mask group was still ahead of the sham group four weeks after stopping. In the Wunsch trial, 52 people were measured again about six months later, with no further sessions: the collagen score was still about 5 points above baseline, while most of the gain in smoothness had faded. Nobody has published follow-up beyond that. The American Academy of Dermatology says follow-up treatments are needed because skin continues to age. AAD.
What about before and after for acne, sore muscles and joints?
Those are measured with counts and scores, not photographs, and each runs on its own clock.
| Use | Measured change | When |
|---|---|---|
| Acne, home LED devices, 6 trials, 216 people | Inflamed spots fell about 45% more than with a control | 4 to 12 weeks |
| Muscle soreness after hard exercise, pooled trials | Lower soreness than placebo at 72 and 96 hours; better strength at 24 and 48 hours | The days after each session; it does not build up |
| Knee osteoarthritis, clinic lasers, 22 trials | Pain about 14 mm lower than placebo on a 100 mm scale across all trials, and 19 mm at recommended doses | End of a 3 to 4 week course; at recommended doses the gap was largest 2 to 4 weeks later |
Sources: acne meta-analysis, Tsou 2025, Stausholm 2019. For the body, a photo shows nothing. Do a simple version of what the trials did: write down a pain or soreness score out of 10 at the same time each day. Red light therapy for acne and red light therapy for knee pain cover those uses.
Why can before and after photos mislead?
Because light, angle, expression and time of day change how skin looks in a photograph, with no change in the skin.
- Lighting. The UK advertising regulator once ruled a pair of unretouched photos misleading because the lighting and framing differed between them, noting that such changes could have a significant effect.
- Expression. A slight squint or smile deepens crow's feet. Eyes open against eyes closed changes fine lines.
- Focus. A slightly soft image smooths texture and hides pores.
- Time of day. Dermatology reviews report that forehead and eye lines are more noticeable in the afternoon than in the morning, and puffiness is greatest on waking.
- Makeup, filters and cropping. A tight crop hides everything that did not change.
Sources: ASA ruling, Global Cosmetic Industry, The Dermatologist. Regulators have rules for this. UK guidance says before and after photos must show what consumers can generally expect and that styling applied only to the "after" picture misleads. ASA. The US Federal Trade Commission says testimonials showing results more dramatic than users can generally expect are likely to be deceptive, and that a "results not typical" line does not fix that. FTC. This is why the better trials use fixed cameras, fixed lighting and assessors who do not know who was treated.
How do you take your own before and after photos?
Keep everything the same except the passing of time: same place, same light, same hour, same face.
- Same window, same time of day. Bright natural light from a window, not direct sun, and no flash one day and lamp the next.
- Clean, dry, bare skin. No makeup, and not straight after a session, when the skin is flushed.
- Same phone, rear camera, no filter. Turn off beauty mode and portrait blur, and do not zoom.
- Prop the phone at the same height and distance each time. Mark the spot.
- Plain background.
- Neutral face, eyes open, no smile. Take the same three views every time: front, left and right. Add one close-up of the area you care about.
- Baseline before the first session, then every four weeks. Compare week 0 with week 12, not with week 1.
- Do not edit, and compare the full face as well as the close-up.
- Change nothing else in your skincare if you want to know what the light did.
The basics here follow the advice dermatologists give for photographing skin. AAD, NHS.
What will red light therapy not change?
Sagging, deep folds, pigment and anything you hope to see in a week.
- Loose skin and deep folds. The controlled trials measured fine lines, roughness and collagen density. None measured a lift.
- Dark spots. Red light devices are not a pigmentation treatment, and the AAD notes that darker skin tones are more sensitive to visible light.
- Weight and cellulite. The Cleveland Clinic says there is no scientific evidence for either.
- Scars. Light may help a new scar settle; it will not erase one. See scars and stretch marks.
- Everyone. The AAD says results take time and not everyone sees them.
Why are there no customer photos on this page?
Because we do not have any that meet the standard above, and we would sooner show trial numbers than pictures we cannot stand behind.
The trials in this article tested red and near-infrared light of the same general kind our devices produce, but none of them tested a Kivorla device. The 4-Wavelength Red Light Therapy Mask runs 665 nm red with 850 and 1064 nm near-infrared, at 50 to 103 mW/cm², which is higher than the masks in the trials; more light is not automatically better. The mask has three brightness levels, and the manual limits sessions to 10 minutes up to four times a week at high brightness, or 15 minutes up to three times a week. The 9-Spectrum Red Light Therapy Panel has nine dimmable wavelengths and a timer of 1 to 30 minutes. If you buy one, take your baseline photos before the first session.
Read the precautions before ordering, since returns are accepted within 30 days, less a 10% restocking fee if the device is unopened with its seals intact, or 20% if it is opened but undamaged and complete. Standard shipping to the US, UK and Germany is free.
Kivorla devices are general wellness devices, not medical devices. Results vary from person to person, and the research cited is on light therapy in general, not on Kivorla devices.