After just 10 days, my perioral dermatitis had significantly reduced and is now nearly completely cleared – which is a huge improvement on last time. I asked consultant dermatologist Dr Anjali Mahto for her thoughts – and if my use of consistent LED light therapy could be key to the healing process.

“Red light can be anti-inflammatory, so it may well be helping,” says Dr Mahto. “However, it’s important to see if any other changes have been made – eg have you stripped back skincare, taken out actives, been less stressed, been getting better sleep, reduced alcohol intake, etc? It may not be the red light itself but also lifestyle factors that could be at play.

“What I would say is that LED light is not my go-to treatment for perioral dermatitis, but I wouldn’t tell someone who felt it was benefitting them to stop,” she adds.

I used a combination of red and yellow light on my perioral dermatitis for around 10 minutes a night and I definitely feel as though the LED light made a marked difference in how quickly my skin recovered from this recent flare-up. The downside is that LED masks can be extremely expensive – but there are some cheaper alternatives out there, and smaller direct-contact devices may be a good solution for targeting an irritated area.

“I’ve been doing red light therapy every night to clear up my perioral dermatitis and it’s worked wonders”