Digestery
Lifestyle practices › Red Light and Skin › Studies

Randomized trial · measured the question itself

4-week trial in 95 women found mixed results for red light mask on wrinkles

Bragato and colleagues · Lasers in medical science · 2025

Original title: Role of photobiomodulation application frequency in facial rejuvenation: randomized, sham-controlled, double-blind, clinical trial.

Under review. A person has not yet checked this summary against the paper. It is written from the PubMed abstract. Until a person checks it, search engines are asked not to list this page.

What the study found

Mixed

Specialists' wrinkle scale showed no difference between groups. Computer-measured glabellar and right eye-area wrinkle length fell more with light than sham (p < 0.001). Satisfaction was 79.6% and 73.4% (p = 0.001 and p = 0.034).

The study at a glance

Type of study
Randomized trial
Who or what was studied
95 people · 95 women aged 45 to 60
What was tested
Red LED mask (660 nm), 3 times a week (12 sessions) or 2 times a week (8 sessions) for 4 weeks, vs sham light twice a week
What it measured
The question itself: wrinkles and skin aging
How long
4 weeks
Trial registration
NCT04911140
Who has a stake
No stake declared
No competing interests declared.
Journal
Lasers in medical science, 2025
Source
PubMed record 40167796. This page is based on the abstract only.

How much this study counts

  • ✓Randomized: people were put into groups by chance, so the groups start out alike.
  • •Medium size: 95 people.
  • –Short: 4 weeks. Longer-term effects are unknown.
  • ✓Measured the question itself: wrinkles and skin aging.
  • ✓No competing interests declared.
  • •Summarized from the PubMed abstract only. The full paper may hold details the abstract leaves out.

✓ Strength– Limit• Note

These points come from fixed rules about the type of study, its size and length, what it measured, and who has a stake. Every study on Digestery gets the same rules.

Where this study sits

Each dot is one on-topic paper on this question. Steps near the top answer the question more directly.

↑ Stronger evidence

  1. Trials in people: wrinkles and skin aging

    6

    5 benefit, 1 mixed

    ↑ This study is the ringed dot

  2. Trials in people: other measures

    0

    None among the papers we read.

  3. Trials in people: lab tests or safety

    0

    None among the papers we read.

  4. Population studies

    0

    None among the papers we read.

  5. Blood levels and genes

    0

    None among the papers we read.

↓ Weaker evidence

  • Points to benefit
  • Mixed
  • No difference
  • No direction
  • Points to harm

How it fits with the other research

The short answer to “Does red light therapy work for skin?”

Maybe a little; trials are small.

Confidence: low. Based on 7 on-topic papers.

Read the full answer

Of the other 5 papers on the same step: 5 benefit. This one found mixed. It differs from most of them.

  • Quoted in “What we found”: In another sham-controlled trial, a red LED mask made no difference to specialists' wrinkle scores, though computer-measured wrinkles between the brows and by one eye shortened.
  • Part of the finding “Trials with a fake light disagree”.
  • Part of the finding “Fewer sessions, few side effects reported”.
  • Marked as a key paper in the research timeline: Sham trial: no change on expert wrinkle scale.

Other papers on the same step

See all 7 studies on this question

How this page was made

Label

First read of the abstract
Claude Sonnet
Independent second read
Claude Haiku
Differences settled
The two reads agreed on every checked field. Claude Opus 5.5.
Headline
Claude Sonnet, from the checked study record. A script checked its numbers and wording.
Numbers
Checked against the abstract by a script
“How much this study counts”
Fixed rules, the same for every study
Source check by a person
Not yet. Required before search engines may list this page.

Spot an error? Email a flag with a link to your source, or use the form on the question page.