From glamourmagazine.co.uk
By Elle Turner
Kim Kardashian's a fan. Here's what you need to know
If you’re Googling “Is red light therapy good for psoriasis?” you’re probably all too familiar with the complexities of finding a treatment that works for the chronic condition.
Alongside other idiopathic conditions, like stress, or irritable bowels, it's often all but impossible to pin down a specific reason for its trigger. Likewise, it’s aggravatingly difficult to find a cure. And, to make it especially unpredictable, what helps one person, may not help another. So if you can relate, we're truly sending love and luck that you get to the bottom of what works for you.
Dermatologists and rheumatologists have been working for years towards making psoriasis easier to manage and red light therapy, in particular, has been getting a lot of attention. Of course, it helps that it has a very high profile fan in its corner. Kim Kardashian has spoken previously, about using red light to help calm her psoriasis flare ups.
So, we spoke to the experts to find out more about how red light therapy can help.
What is psoriasis?
“Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory skin condition that causes skin cells to renew too quickly,” says Sophie Smith, Aesthetician, Laser & Skin expert and Co-Founder of Grand Aesthetics Clinic. Specifically, “skin cells can multiply up to 10 times faster than normal,” notes Board-Certified Dermatologist and Cosmetologist, Dr Aiza Jamil.
It can also have a knock-on effect to other parts of the body. For instance, “it can affect joints, causing arthritis,” explains Dr Ahmed El Houssieny, Aesthetic Doctor & Founder of Bank Medispa on behalf of Allergan Aesthetics.
What does psoriasis look like?
“Psoriasis is mainly characterised by lesions in the skin, and these lesions tend to be a thickened top layer of the skin. They can appear silver/white, alongside redness. It is not contagious, and it can typically affect the face, elbows, back and anywhere on the body,” says Dr El Houssieny.
What does psoriasis feel like?
"Patients can experience itching, discomfort and pain from psoriasis, especially during flare-ups.’ says Dr Jamil.
What causes psoriasis?
“No one really understands why you get psoriasis, but the main reason is due to increased production of skin cells,” explains Dr El Houssieny. As for why this happens, “flare-ups [can be] triggered by stress, illness, hormonal changes or even the weather," says Sophie. "I’ve lived with psoriasis since childhood, so I understand first-hand how unpredictable those cycles can be, not just physically, but emotionally too,” she adds.
Does psoriasis go away?
“Many people experience cycles where their skin is relatively calm, followed by flare-ups,” notes Sophie.
Can red light therapy help with the skin condition?
The short answer is, it may help with symptoms but it can't cure the condition. “There is not enough evidence to suggest that it can penetrate deep enough to alter immune responses,” says Dr Jamil. But it can support by reducing inflammation and promoting repair.
“Red light therapy can work well for psoriasis, as it has an anti-inflammatory effect and can improve and repair the skin barrier,” confirms Dr El Houssieny. “It can also reduce the scaling and redness,” he adds. "As psoriasis is driven by inflammation, reducing that inflammatory response is key," agrees Sophie. As for who may benefit. “It’s best used for mild cases or as a supplement to other treatments, such as corticosteroids,” says Dr El Houssieny.
“In my experience and personally managing my own psoriasis, I’ve found consistent red-light therapy helps to reduce redness, soothe irritation, and support the skin’s recovery during flare-ups. While it isn’t a cure, it can be a powerful, non-invasive addition alongside medical advice,” says Sophie.
What to know about red light therapy
“For psoriasis, red light (around 630–660nm) and near-infrared light (around 830nm) are most commonly used. These wavelengths penetrate the skin to help reduce inflammation and promote healing," explains Dr Sonia Soopen Dentist & Medical Aesthetics Doctor of Grand Aesthetics. “In-clinic LED treatments offer a more powerful, medical-grade device with tailored settings for your specific skin needs. They are ideal for kickstarting treatment or managing flare-ups under the guidance of a professional. However, at-home LED masks or panels can be a fantastic way to maintain results between sessions. They're generally lower in intensity but, when used consistently and correctly, can be an excellent addition to your psoriasis management plan. We always recommend patients check with their clinician before starting at-home treatment to ensure they’re using the right device for their condition," she adds.
Is blue light better?
“In clinic, we typically use blue light for breakout-prone or acne-affected skin because it has antibacterial properties. It helps target acne-causing bacteria and regulate oil production, which makes it ideal for congested complexions,” says Sophie. Therefore blue light is not traditionally considered to be a psoriasis treatment.
However, “evidence suggests that blue light can have a strong biological effect on immune cells, bacterial populations and inflammatory pathways, so it may be beneficial for those with mild psoriasis,” notes Dr Jamil.
Before pursuing any treatment however, it's important to seek medical advice to ensure your condition has been properly identified, and therefore can be properly treated. “I would recommend speaking with a dermatologist beforehand if you suspect or are diagnosed with psoriasis,” says Dr Jamil.
How does Kim Kardashian treat her psoriasis?
Kim has been open about suffering with the skin condition for years and shared her experience of psoriasis in an in-depth interview with She MD, alongside her rheumatologist, Dr Daniel Wallace, who was able to shed more light on the condition.
Kim's first psoriasis flare-up happened when she was 30, but it was managed with a cortisone shot which suppressed the condition for around five years. “It came back maybe five years later, and I’ve never gotten rid of it again,” she explained. “I always have one [plaque] on my leg – my right leg [and] there’s always one on my stomach," she said. "There will be times when it gets really bad and it covers my legs and my butt and my stomach, but it’s only this one spot [on her leg] that will itch. And it will really, really itch when it does. When I started to get a little bit desperate is when it started to cover my face and there was a spot really close to my eye and it would just burn a little bit. I remember I had the Met Ball coming up that week and it was covering my face,” she shared.
Red light therapy
As for treatments, she revealed she's “tried everything," and shared “I really do believe so much in self care. I do red light saunas, I have a red light bed.” She also previously wrote on her now-deleted website in 2018 "there isn't a cure for psoriasis, but there are treatments that can help ease the symptoms." In particular, she uses the Clarify Home Light Therapy System. "I love it because it's a handheld, at-home treatment that syncs with your phone to give you step-by-step instructions and tells you when to do treatments and take progress photos," she said. "The device uses UVB and LED phototherapy to treat the skin. It's been one of the only things that has helped clear my psoriasis. I'm so happy that I finally found something that works," she said. At around a thousand dollars, it's not he most accessible tool, nor is the red light bed that she revealed she owns, in her 2024 office tour. However, in her more recent interview, Kim did admit that consistency is key and she's not always great at keeping up with red light therapy. “I’ve the red light [and] I’ve tried lasers that supposedly help,” she said, noting “I think if I was maybe a little more consistent with that, that could have worked.”
Topicals
Kim explained that when her psoriasis came back after five years, her first step was to go to a dermatologist, “so I went to Dr Lancer in Beverly Hills” for ”topicals" a drug applied directly to the skin in the form of an ointment, lotion or cream.
“When it gets bad [my doctor] would prescribe me Prednisolone. [It’s] a little steroid pack [that] calms everything down [so it] starts to go away with some topicals," said Kim. She shared that Dr Lancer also mixed her a “magical formula called T4 and the best advice he ever gave me was taking the cream, putting saran wrap around it and sleeping with it. So when it was on my legs, I’d put the cream on, saran wrap it, put socks on, go to bed, do my elbows, because it would get on my elbows, put a hair tie around the saran wrap so it wouldn’t come out and I would sound like the tin man, like super crunchy and it would take it away.”
However, if you're using topicals, it's worth consulting with your doctor about how best to apply it as many formulas may be too strong to use with this method and they can thin your skin, so this method works better with gentle emollients.
Medication and biologics
Kim shared she prefers not to use medication if she doesn't have to, but confirmed that medication is what ultimately helped her manage her psoriasis.
“More recently it got really bad and I called [my] doctor. I don’t like to be on medication, but sometime you just have to. This is the first time where I said I need to try something a little bit more than a topical and I did and it’s worked and this is one of the first times it’s completely gone. I don’t have one spot,” she shared. "I was lucky that after one shot, it completely went away."
Her rheumatologist, Dr Daniel Wallace, revealed Kim used a biologic, which according to the NHS, is usually given as an injection and “reduces inflammation by targeting overactive cells in the immune system. They are usually used if you have severe psoriasis that has not responded to other treatments, or if you cannot use other treatments.” The American Academy of Dermatology Association explains “biologics are newer, stronger medicines. A biologic can target, or quiet, only the part of the immune system that is overactive because of psoriasis.”
Lifestyle changes
Aside from taking a medical route, Kim has tried lifestyle changes. When she first posted about having psoriasis, she noticed “everyone under the sun was sending me home remedies. I tried drinking tar tea, special herbs. I tried the holistic way. I tried the celery juice diet for six weeks. I tried every topical cream, every soap, from natural, to unnatural. At some points I was just like, I’ll do anything," she revealed. But ultimately, “I couldn’t figure out anything. Everyone says different things. So it would be cut out the citrus, cut out any acid food. I didn’t see anything," notes Kim.
https://www.glamourmagazine.co.uk/article/red-light-therapy-psoriasis-treatment-benefits
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