16 min read
Why UFO™ Serum for Red Light Therapy Improves Results?
Because it is fabulous. But also because this red light therapy serum was crafted to do so with extreme care. The UFO™ LED Light Serum was designed as part of a comprehensive treatment, a topical counterpart working with a partner - the UFO™ LED Lighthouse Panel. Is it the best serum for red light therapy? We honestly don't know. It is impossible to try them all long enough to make that judgment and claim it as fact, but its formula and lightweight design aim for the top.
If you're here, you're probably interested in red light therapy or are already a proud owner of an at-home red light therapy device. LED therapy is the new it kid of non-invasive rejuvenation. It is extremely safe and easy to use, with few to no side effects, which mostly stem from LED therapy overuse (more is not always more; there is a biphasic response and a Goldilocks zone in living tissues; cells can only absorb so much energy to heal and optimize their function).
But if you've been wondering how to make the most of your treatment and what to use with red light therapy, if anything, this is the place. You'll get red light therapy results whether you use a serum, and the longer you use it, the better the results will become because the effects are cumulative rather than an instant fix like a facelift or filler. You can, of course, use most of your red light devices - be it red light panels, LED masks, or LED wands - dry, unless the manufacturer specifies application of a topical, if nothing else for glide, or if the device also has some additional technologies, like microcurrent, that require a conductive medium to transfer the current into the skin safely.
But for those asking, "should I use a serum with red light therapy", you don't have to, but it is very beneficial to support the skin with extra topical building blocks, as you affect the processes on a cellular level with red light therapy - more ATP energy, boosting collagen, and increasing microcirculation. The building blocks that a red light therapy serum, like the UFO™ LED Light Serum, provides become the new scaffolding and protection to build from and prevent deterioration of your new, improved skin. With red light therapy, the improved look and feel of the skin isn't a mask or a cover-up, but a genuine deep restart and cellular rebuild that accumulates into a healthier organ (which we forget the skin is).
The main actives driving improved LED therapy results in our serum today are barrier-strengthening Ceramides, thirst-quenching Hyaluronic Acid, nourishing Squalane & calming Centella Asiatica, which we'll explore in more detail below. But they do improve results and deliver results on their own too.
UFO™ LED Light Serum Clinical Results
You will, of course, see results over the long term, but you'll also notice some immediate improvements due to the alchemy and interplay of ingredients and red light action.
UFO™ LED Light Serum Clinical Results* After 1st Use:
100% of users report
- instantly firmer skin
- instantly softer, nourished & hydrated skin
- instantly plumper skin
- skin instantly looks & feels healthier
- instantly lifted skin
- instantly smoother skin
97% of users report
- instantly minimized pores
94% of users report
- instantly brighter skin
- instantly reduced skin redness
* Based on 3rd party clinical testing with 31 healthy female subjects aged 31 - 49 years, over a 28-day period.
UFO™ LED Light Serum Ingredient Breakdown
You got a taste of the delicious ingredients above, but now we go deeper. We'll explain what each ingredient does on its own and why it pairs perfectly with red light therapy, so you understand the logic behind our ingredient choices. The formula is also 90% naturally sourced, dermatologist-tested, vegan, cruelty-free, and suitable for all skin types. Now, let's talk about our red light therapy serum compounds.
CERAMIDES
SKINCARE BENEFITS
REINFORCE THE SKIN BARRIER
You need your skin barrier. It does exactly what its name says: it acts as a physical barrier between the skin cells and the often harsh environment. Ceramides are naturally occurring fat molecules with a sort of waxy feel, and they make up over 50% of the barrier.
PREVENTS TRANSEPIDERMAL WATER LOSS
Ceramides plug the gaps between cells, like mortar between bricks, so you can hold on to your intracellular water. And you know that aging is basically drying out, and younger skin simply has more moisture by design. Ceramide use results in long-lasting hydration, plumper-looking skin, and a smoother surface texture. Water is life and youth.
SOOTHES & IMPROVES SKIN RESILIENCE
A weak barrier can show up as irritation, fragility, dryness, and flaking. A healthy barrier means calmer, stronger, more resilient skin that can take on the challenges of the day without ending up droopy and worn down. Ceramides help reduce sensitivity, support recovery after treatments, injuries, or burns, and improve the skin’s ability to bounce back from stress, irritation, and environmental damage.
WHY PAIR WITH RED LIGHT THERAPY?
STRENGTH & MOISTURE
Because red light therapy supports skin regeneration and barrier repair through different actions - boosting the amount of energy available to the cell by mitochondrial stimulation. When paired with ceramides, you get dual action from the inside out to protect barrier function, restore smoothness, and support more resilient cells that hold moisture better when hit by environmental stressors and the passage of time. Time will pass, but you don't need to go gentle into that good night.
HYALURONIC ACID
SKINCARE BENEFITS
DEEP, MULTI-LEVEL HYDRATION
Hyaluronic acid is a good old friend to us all. It is a powerful humectant, a fancy term that says it attracts and holds up to water, 1,000 times its weight in water. A spectacular property that made it one of the beauty world's favorites.
PLUMPS THE APPEARANCE OF FINE LINES
Have you ever noticed how your fine lines look more pronounced if you didn't mean to finish that bottle of wine last night? Alcohol dehydrates, and that's why the lines become more visible. By flooding the skin with moisture in such a spectacular fashion, hyaluronic acid helps soften the look of fine lines and wrinkles, making skin appear smoother, fuller, and more youthful almost instantly. You didn't actually get younger; you'll just look it, which is basically the same thing.
IMPROVES SKIN SMOOTHNESS & ELASTICITY
Dry things are brittle; hydrated things are flexible. Just ask bamboo or a strand of hair.
Well-hydrated skin is far more flexible and resilient to mechanical manipulation than dry skin. And you will use mechanical forces like taking off your makeup, overscrubbing the face, picking at spots, rubbing your eyes, smiling, and crying. Hyaluronic acid enhances skin elasticity and bounce, so you'll basically glow and crease less.
WHY PAIR WITH RED LIGHT THERAPY?
HYDRATION & PLUMP
LED treatments temporarily increase skin permeability and circulation, meaning you'll absorb more HA deeper, helping it bind and retain moisture more effectively in deeper layers for visibly plumper, smoother, and more supple skin with every LED session.
SQUALANE
SKINCARE BENEFITS
RESTORES SKIN LIPIDS & SOFTNESS
Squalane is a biomimetic lipid. This means it impersonates fats that closely resemble our skin’s natural sebum. We do have a problem with excess sebum, but it was actually designed as a primary line of defense for the skin: an extra oily layer that makes us pretty much waterproof and resilient to outside stressors. Squalane helps replenish what the skin naturally loses over time with our practice of overwashing, restoring smoothness, flexibility, and a healthy-looking, glass skin glow.
LIGHTWEIGHT, NON-GREASY HYDRATION
Various oils offer many benefits for skin, but many are heavy and can cause problems like clogged pores and breakouts, especially for acne-prone or oily skin. Squalane's biomimetic properties hydrate without clogging pores or leaving residue. It absorbs quickly, making skin feel instantly nourished and balanced.
SKIN COMFORT & ELASTICITY
There are a few things more annoying than feeling constantly uncomfortable in your skin, like it is a size too small. By reducing moisture loss and supporting skin flexibility, squalane helps keep skin elastic and prevents uncomfortable tightness and dryness, whether your skin is dry or you've overwashed your face.
WHY PAIR WITH RED LIGHT THERAPY?
COMFORT & ELASTICITY
Serums for red light therapy that contain squalane work even better when paired with light energy. LED treatments increase circulation, meaning more fresh blood flows through a treated area and distributes these deeply conditioning lipids more efficiently for visibly silkier, more balanced, radiant skin. If you see someone with that glowing "in love" skin, it's squalane and red light, or they’re actually in love.
CENTELLA ASIATICA (CICA)
SKINCARE BENEFITS
SOOTHES SENSITIVITY & VISIBLE REDNESS
Super soothing, gentle, and calming anti-inflammatory, Centella Asiatica, Cica for friends, targets inflammation and irritation, reducing redness and stress. It is suitable for even the most sensitive skin.
SKIN REPAIR & REGENERATION
Cica contains powerful active compounds like madecassoside and asiaticoside that help speed the skin’s natural healing processes, improving recovery and overall skin quality over time. You're not introducing anything foreign, just fast-forwarding a completely natural process.
STRENGTHENS THE SKIN BARRIER
We've already talked about the importance of a robust skin barrier above. Cica is also one of the fantastic natural resources to reinforce the skin’s defense system and improve resilience and tolerance. And everything that protects the barrier protects the skin from premature aging.
WHY PAIR WITH RED LIGHT THERAPY?
RECOVERY & REGENERATION
Red light therapy also stimulates skin regeneration. By increasing ATP production, the cell no longer has to sacrifice recovery on the altar of pure survival. More energy means extra to funnel into improvement, rather than barely staying alive. Paired with Centella Asiatica, you'll soothe visible redness, support recovery, and keep skin feeling comfortable, stable, and cared for faster and longer.
So, should you use a serum with red light therapy? Yes, if you want results faster, but nothing bad will happen if you don't (always check your device instructions before use, always). You'll just wait longer to see results. Serums to use with red light therapy are plenty and vary wildly, but make sure that whichever you get has some good ingredients that, instead of degrading, get improved when exposed to LED light. Don't just put any old serums before or after red light therapy; well, after you can do what you'd like, actually, but if the serum is going to be on your skin during the duration of an LED treatment, grab one like UFO™ LED Light Serum, formulated specifically to thrive in the spotlight.
Is a red light therapy serum specific to a device it was designed for? No, not necessarily. Once again, we're looking for quality ingredients that don't degrade, or even worse, turn against you, under intense LED light.
UFO™ LED Light Serum was designed to be used with the UFO™ LED Lighthouse panel, but if you already have some other light serum, like FAQ™ Red Light Peptide Serum, designed for use with a whole array of FAQ™ red light therapy devices from panels to the mega popular soft silicone masks and dual red LED panels, just use that one, or vice versa. No need to waste it if you've already got a topical with appropriate, result-boosting ingredients.
Device Suggestion
In the bonus round, we'll take a peek at some high-quality, easy-to-use red light therapy devices you can explore if you're interested in getting a new (or first) device. I hope this helps you find something that fits your life and your needs.
I'll try to show you the premium top-tier devices and tier budget-friendlier, basic counterparts that have similar technology, just fewer options, less or weaker LEDs. For example, if you have young skin and are looking more for prevention, the basic device may suffice, while more advanced signs of aging may need a bit more oomph.
UFO™ LED Lighthouse: Deep NIR, NIR & Red Light Therapy Panel
FOREO, the beloved global innovative skin-tech giant, had had enough of red light panels that keep you hovering 15-20 cm from the device like a clingy lover, tied to a narrow band of effective therapeutic distance. They have since been looking at how lighthouses manage to project light (and keep its strength) so far over the open seas: a Fresnel lens. This type of lens is made of concentric, tiered glass prisms that magnify and direct light rays from the source, creating a narrow, intense beam that lets ships see a flashing light from up to 20 miles away and lets you sit comfortably up to 2 meters from your red light panel.
The UFO™ LED Lighthouse Panel collection also solves the problem that red light panels lose power (we call it irradiance) very quickly. The inverse square law says that if you double the distance from the light source, the energy density hitting your skin doesn't drop by half, but by approximately 75%. So every few inches can make a universe of difference.
The effects of UFO™ LED Lighthouse include:
- smoother, radiant skin,
- thicker, healthier hair
- better sleep and relaxation
- waking up energized
And the spectacular news is a 114.3% increase in skin radiance. In just 1 month.
Advanced UFO™ LED Lighthouse Panel vs. Basic
You have two flavors of the device to choose from, and there are a few differences between the Basic and Advanced versions you should know.
The Advanced UFO™ LED Lighthouse Panel has capabilities for 5 light wavelengths - Deep near-infrared, near-infrared (NIR), red, blue, and amber- while the Basic model has red, blue, and amber. The Advanced is also slightly stronger, using 200 mW/cm² of irradiance compared to the Basic's 150 mW/cm², but both have Fresnel lenses, so that's still plenty of power for really satisfying, intense light therapy.
If you're showing early signs of aging, you might want the Advanced device, the more intense of the two, because it has 123 LEDs (compared to 89) and more overall power. If you're less interested in the skin and hair benefits and are primarily looking for a red light therapy panel to regulate a messy circadian rhythm, Advanced is the only one with a sunrise alarm clock Wake Up Mode and Sleep Mode you can program in.
If you're a younger person with minimal to no signs of aging and are looking more for prevention, or have a problem more common in young, oily skin, such as acne, the lights in the Basic versions will do for your needs. If you're sleeping well and perimenopause is not peeking around the corner, waiting to decimate your hairline and emotional stability, get the basic version.
Read more on the clinicals and details of the basic and advanced models here: UFO™ LED Lighthouse: Deep NIR, NIR & Red Light Therapy Panel
FAQ™ Red Light Panel (Single) & FAQ™ Dual Red Light Panel
Ideal for those who just want it all (in one) and then a double.
We can do these panels together because all functionality remains the same; you simply get double the lights in a dual panel (512 in a double vs. 256 in a single). This is a more powerful, heavy-duty panel from FOREO's sister brand FAQ™ Swiss. It is in a higher price tier, but the dual also has about 4 times as many LED sources as the Lighthouse.
But why are these LED panels so special when everyone and their grandma can find 10 brands in a 1-second search? They are more powerful because of a simple design change. The lenses above the LED diodes are usually flat or slightly curved, but FAQ™ LED panels have diamond-shaped lenses. If you've ever looked at a diamond (a girl needs a best friend; mine is a cat, no diamonds), you've noticed how light refracts at so many angles (although real diamonds don't shine like our LEDs here, but rather refract received light… Rihanna was wrong, but we’ll still sing along). This is what these innovative lenses do. Instead of single-angle vertical illumination, you get amplified, dispersed light that now goes in multiple angles. An innovation just as big as introducing Fresnel lenses into skincare.
For detailed clinicals, specifications, more info on wavelengths, and benefits, go here:
Why You Need the New FAQ™ Red Light Panels
FAQ™ 200 Collection (201, 202, 202 plus)
FAQ™ 201 Silicone LED Face Mask
The 01 in a 200 collection is an entry-level device (for overachievers) featuring red, green & blue LED light therapy.
This flexible, lightweight mask is a revolution in LED face masks. Usually, the ones that are wireless are also rigid, more like a hard or somewhat mildly flexible carnival mask of a Stormtrooper. FAQ™ 201 is made of something called flexi-fit silicone. It is translucent, ridiculously lightweight, and will lie perfectly on your face, feeling like a second skin.
No wires, 6000 light points that pulse 1000 times per second, light as air, and with an open mouth and eyes (which are protected by an inbuilt shield for eye safety). If you're looking for a perfect LED mask, are happy with RGB wavelengths, and totally into getting things done rather than doing things, this is a huge recommendation.
FAQ™ 202 Anti-aging Silicone LED Mask
It all makes sense if you look at the collection as a whole. The 02 of the 200 collection is a full-spectrum LED anti-aging mask upgraded to NIR (near-infrared) + 7 wavelengths. Human eyes can't see pure infrared (like some frogs, salmon, and vipers can), but NIR is the wavelength we can still see, and it goes deeper into the skin than red light therapy. The 202 is more advanced with its 3000 LED pulses per second. Locked into our human 3D grid and timeframes, 3000/sec is an abstraction, like trying to grasp infinity.
FAQ™ 202 plus LED face mask
FAQ™ 202 plus is an upgraded design in response to the wishes of the fans. The brand took everything that people liked about the 202 LED face mask and applied solutions to realistic customer desires.
Now the FAQ™ 202 plus has 50% stronger light and more LED points, including 9 LEDs in the forehead diamond to iron out those very stubborn deep frown lines, bringing the total to 634 LED light points. It also has 8 LED wavelengths and flexi-fit silicone that molds to your face shape for the most even light coverage possible. Some very smug, clinically proven results include reducing wrinkles by 32%, reducing acne by 48%, and increasing elasticity in 2 weeks. Two weeks from now, you can have a face from a few years ago.
FAQ™ 500 Collection
FAQ™ 501 Full Spectrum Red Light Therapy
Ideal for those who worship the sun and want the benefits, but unfortunately, you burst into flames 2 minutes in.
In 500 collection, the point is to scoop up the powerful and healing wavelengths of the sun and condense them into single devices, while filtering out the harmful ones, such as UVA & UVB. Traditional red light therapy uses individual wavelengths, like 650 nm or 850 nm. Sure, they are proven to work, but a broad, rich spectrum can give you something a single wavelength just can't: synergistic effects, a sort of light "entourage effect" featuring up to 7 flashes/second, and you can use the device up to 35 times for a single charge.
This Swiss skincare knife features full-spectrum red light therapy that targets pigmentation blotches, fine lines, deeper wrinkles, redness, irritation, acne inflammation, texture issues, and even mild scarring. Red LED works with collagen and elastin as pulsed light (590-1200 nm) targets the epidermis (top skin layer) and the mid-to-deep layers. The clinicals and user reports agree.
FAQ™ 502 Full Spectrum Red Light & NIR Therapy
Ideal for more visible deterioration, acne issues, and especially scarring. So, not just lines, but a visible sag and folds.
FAQ™ 502 operates on the same basic idea as 501. Still, it has stronger light energy, faster action with up to 10 flashes/sec, and a longer battery life of 45 uses/charge. It combines broad-spectrum pulsed light with narrow, specific red and NIR wavelengths that don't pulse but remain steady. The upper skin layers absorb red, and as with other devices, NIR penetrates deeper into tissue to stimulate ATP (cell energy) production and repair the entire skin organ.
You can think of this full-spectrum combo as taking a multivitamin to fill in nutritional gaps, rather than a single mega dose of one vitamin, which corresponds to a single wavelength. You may not need every vitamin in the multivitamin, but your body will take what it needs.
Bonus Reading
I mean, there is so much more to explore, and I would be remiss not to share a few resources below: first, a comprehensive overview of the entire FAQ™ Swiss collection, and then extra reading on how red light works in skincare and its benefits.
How To Choose an FAQ™ Swiss Collection Device?
For those who'd like to know more:
- Who Should Not Use Red Light Therapy? Risks & Safety 101
- Does Red Light Therapy Really Work?
- Red Light Therapy Wavelength: Does Length Matter?
- A Mole in Your Health: Can Red Light Therapy Cause Melanoma?
- Is Red Light Therapy Safe?
- The Benefits of Red Light Therapy for Reproductive Health
- Photon Fear Factor: Can Red Light Therapy Cause Cancer?
- Are Red Light Therapy Before and After Images Real?
Conclusion
But basically, the gist of it all: Do you need a serum for red light therapy? No. Will your life and skincare be better for it? Yes. Is there only one right red light therapy serum for your device? No. Should you always get a serum designed only for your device? No, any light-stable serum will help, but the manufacturer-recommended skincare is the only one tested with the device in question, so you can be sure it works as intended.
Are all red light therapy devices created the same? No. Do you always need to get the more expensive one for results? No. It depends on what you need and if you're looking for short-term prevention or long-term rejuvenation. Don't let anyone bully you into getting what you don't need. Do your research, check out clinicals, choose what fits, stay cool and curious, and enjoy living in your gorgeous skin.
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