Is My Red Light Mask Doing Anything Or Am I Delusional? An Investigation

As with some of my best decisions in life, I bought a red light mask because Kelsey McKinney uses one.

I saw Kelsey posting Instagram stories with her face illuminated under the mask's sinister, Sith-like glow.

I was newly 30, albeit not especially flirty or thriving, and I wondered if the red light mask might be a good salve for my anxious vanity.

Like many others, I want to grow old but still look young—sue me!

Every morning I dutifully smear sunscreen on my face, and every night I apply my cocktail of arbitrarily chosen unguents.

But if there was something else I could be doing more to stave off spots and wrinkles, I wanted to give it a try.

Now that I've had my red light mask for a year, I see that it works, I think?

My skin looks good, perhaps even better than it would without the mask.

But I sometimes wonder if this is all in my head.

Have I convinced myself that red light works simply because I want it to?

Every time I put on my mask, strapping my face under its white silhouette like Tom Cruise in Vanilla Sky, I find myself discombobulated, also like Tom Cruise in Vanilla Sky. The logic feels crazy.

I understand that light has the power to burn my skin.

But the power to preserve it?

This wager feels far more fantastical.

Even scientists seemed to agree.

In one https://www.ovid.com/jnls/health-physics/abstract/00004032-198905000-00015~photobiology-of-low-power-laser-effects">1989 paper, the biophysicist Tiina Karu, who studied the cellular mechanics of red light exposure, called the therapy "highly incredible and even mysterious." When I tried to learn about the science behind red light's dermatological dazzle, what I found were mostly affiliate-driven product recommendations, which taught me more about the luxuries of various masks but less about the science behind them.

So I reached out to some actual dermatologists to see if they could unmask the secrets of my mask.

Here is some of what I learned.