But that was specifically for psoriasis, with a limited pool of 783 patients. Popular at-home skin-care devices tend to be less vetted, said the study’s lead author Joel Gelfand, MD, a professor of dermatology and epidemiology at the Perelman School.
“If they aren’t studied in a randomized control trial, it makes me skeptical,” he said. “Was a study done by the manufacturer in a situation to benefit financially, or was it large with hundreds of patients? Because it’s a very murky area, most people would be best off speaking to a dermatologist and seeing if a light modality would have some effect on their skin.”
Dr. Evan Rieder, a dual board-certified physician in dermatology and psychiatry who practices in Manhattan, said that many devices marketed for at-home use are FDA cleared, which is different from being FDA approved. “‘Approved’ means a device or a medicine has gone through rigorous clinical trials compared to a placebo, and the results are not just due to chance and have been replicated in other studies as well,” he said. FDA 510(k) Clearance is often what you’re seeing at home, which indicates solely that the device has been evaluated by the FDA and is not dangerous for nonprofessional use.
Dr. Rieder declined to name specific devices, but said that many of them have photos on their websites of before and after results that are “grossly misleading,” with inconsistent lighting and shadows that make the results even harder to see. The outcome one can expect is subtle at best, he said, for those who have “good skin or minor concerns.”
It may be wiser, he went on, to approach at-home care as a tool to support or supplement in-office treatments. For the cost of an at-home laser device, a patient could — depending on where they live and the doctor they visit — get two or three fractionated laser treatments: “That’s a major improvement with real brightening — decreased photo damage, decreasing the burden of pre-cancers and maintained with just sunscreen and moisturizer at home.”
To reach consumers, manufacturers tend to rely heavily on the collaboration or approval of two distinct groups. “Skinfluencer” doctors with good credentials and high-profile clientele, such as Dr. Lindsey Zubritsky (@dermguru) and Dr. Jenny Liu (@derm.talk), make videos on Instagram on the impacts of differences in wavelength, power density and energy density in certain devices to help consumers choose wisely. And then there are the more traditional social media influencers, who often speak frankly and informally of their own personal experiences with these tools — like Jenn Lexi (@jennlexi_), an aesthetician student whose recent post comparing popular LED masks has more than 56,000 likes on TikTok.
