Omnilux released a new LED mask so I wanted to update my larger LED mask blog post to include the new details about it. First, I wanted to note that they call this the “Omnilux Men LED Mask” but I don’t think it is necessary to include a gender in the label, but that is my two cents. Omnilux has sent both masks to me in PR with no obligation for review.
8/23/23 Update – I have updated this blog post to included my thoughts after using the mask since Nov. 22 and to summarize a new journal articles reporting results after using this mask for 6 weeks.
5/8/2024 Update – I have updated the blog post yet again to include some new information I wanted to share.
8/13/2024 Update: Here is a video I made comparing the Men’s mask to the Contour.
How does the Men's LED Mask Differ from the Contour Mask?
[To read why I love that Omnilux Contour mask check out the blog post linked here]
- In addition to having the same red (633nm) and NIR (830nm) wavelengths it also includes another NIR wavelength of 1072nm to penetrate even deeper into the skin. What I am very happy to report is that most of the LEDs are still the 633nm and 830nm wavelengths — but then they added a handful of the 1072nm LEDs to target the forehead, the crow’s feet, and along the laugh lines.
*This is the key difference.* I will talk more about the 1072 wavelength below, but the reason Omnilux is calling this the Omnilux Men’s mask is because “Men generally have ~25% thicker facial skin than women due to men having a higher percentage of the hormone testosterone. Since the 1072nm penetrates deeper than 633nm and 830nm it is able to target the deepest cells.” As a note, I couldn’t find a citation (that doesn’t mean one isn’t out there) for the 25% thicker estimate, but I did find a high quality study that reported that males had 10-20% thicker skin than females (Bailey et al., 2011).
- The new Contour mask has slightly longer straps but the same exact shade and size. I prefer the longer strap because it allows me to keep the velcro attached which makes putting it on a bit quicker.
Men's Mask vs. Contour Mask: What ISN'T Different?
- As mentioned above, it has the same Red wavelength and also has the same 830nm wavelength as the contour. (YAY!!)
- The mask dimensions are the same as the Contour mask (Boo…). I know some people are going to be bummed about because essentially all of the flexible LED masks have the same dimensions which may not fully cover larger foreheads. But the good news is that even if the mask isn’t perfectly covering the entire forehead, as long as the light is reflected on your skin, you will get the same benefits. But it would have been nice to increase the size a bit.
- The irradiance is the same as Contour at 35mw/cm2. (I have seen some people say it is “more powerful” but that isn’t accurate)
- The treatment time of 10 minutes is the same.
- It still has a great 2-year warranty (the warranty process with Omnilux is extremely easy and they have great customer service)
- It will be the same price as the Omnilux Contour ($395)
Some things to keep in mind:
- It launched on Nov. 14th in the US, AU, and NZ. It will be available in all other shipping regions early 2023.
- Hair will deflect light, so skin with a heavier beard will not see as much improvement because the density of facial hair will prevent some light from penetrating into the skin.
- Yes, women can use the mask. Whether you experience better results or the same results is unclear. But there is no reason to expect any unwanted adverse results.
- Like all masks with Red and NIR, the new Omnilux mask is very safe for the eyes and does not require any eye protection. (The mask has been tested and conforms to medical device standards including IEC/EN 62471 Photobiological eye safety standard). However, some people may have very sensitive retinas. For example, my mom has blue eye and has always had very sensitive retinas and it is painful for her to wear my Omnilux Contour mask because the light is too bright for her. For people with a similar issue, you can purchase eye guards from Omnilux for $20 by emailing info@omniluxled.com.
- There are no other LED face masks that include the 1072nm wavelength.
Contour vs. Men's Mask: Which Should You Get?
First. If you already own the Omnilux Contour mask, please don’t have FOMO or feel like you are missing out. I also wouldn’t run out and replace the Contour with the Men’s mask. The added 1072nm LEDs are like bonus wavelengths that are a nice to have, but not necessarily a MUST have. However, I do think they have some evidence to suggest they really do serve a useful purpose.
My takeaway is that the additional 1072nm wavelength seems really promising due to its ability to achieve better penetration in the skin and reach different “targets” , but given the limited evidence I am very glad it is still used alongside evidence-based wavelengths of 633nm and 830nm.
But below are some specific scenarios where I would especially recommend buying the men’s mask over the Contour.
- If you are someone with thicker skin or facial hair, which tends to be men (or those assigned male at birth), I would recommend going with the Omnilux Men’s mask because that additional wavelength has the potential to improve results due to some of the LEDs have increased depth of penetration.
- If you think you will lay the mask on other parts of your body to help with wound healing, bruise or scar healing, I would go with the men’s mask because that skin is also thicker than the skin on our face.
- If inflammation and wound healing is a key concern, I would go with the new mask rather than the original Contour. The Contour is amazing at wound healing–I can personally attest to that after I split my eyebrow open and it healed in record time and there are numerous studies providing evidence for 830nm and 633nm for wound healing. But the added oomph of the 1072 and its deeper penetration is promising. So because of that, I would personally go with the new mask.
- If you have darker skin, I would go for the men’s mask. There aren’t clinical studies that compare various wavelengths on dark skin tones, so we have to turn to in vitro studies. But here is the argument. When wavelengths travel through our skin, trying to reach their tissue target, some of that light energy is lost due to three processes: reflection, scattering, and absorption of light by water, melanin, or other chromophores (Penberthy & Vorwaller, 2021). The depth of light penetration is dependent on (1) power density and (2) wavelength. As light moves to the target tissue in the skin the first thing that can “subtract” some of the energy is melanin pigments in the skin. This group of pigment can absorb and reflect light and can diminish the depth of tissue photobiomodulation (which is the fancy word for LED therapy). Here is a key point: Eumelanin is the predominant melanin, and most significantly, 830 nm light is absorbed by eumelanin, but wavelengths over 1000nm are not (Penberthy & Vorwaller, 2021). Wavelengths above 1000 nm have negligible absorption and reflection by melanin (which means better penetration and more light energy hitting its target). 830nm will still penetrate but you lose some of the light energy as it gets partially absorbed by melanin. To read more about optimizing LED treatment for darker skin, check out this blog post.
- 8/23/23 UPDATE: After using the Omnilux men’s mask since Nov. 2022, I am revising this to say that I don’t see a downside to going with the Men’s mask over the contour. I honestly don’t know why Omnilux doesn’t just phase out the contour and make this one their primary mask. Also, because there are really very few 1072nm diodes that replaced the 830 nm wavelength, I wouldn’t at all worry about having a less than optimal mix of lights. If anything, I really like that they added some 1072 nm. SO, if you are focused on both wrinkles/fine lines or inflammation/healing, I personally would still pick the men’s over the contour.
What is the best deal on Omnilux LED Masks?
10% off when you use my link
What do we know about the 1072nm wavelength?
First….let’s step back and talk about why wavelengths matter (to read even more click here). Wavelengths are like the active ingredients in skincare products. They are critical to the results you will see. In the context of low level light therapy, some have lots of evidence to support their benefits (like red and NIR) and some have been found to have limited to no benefits (like yellow or green) or mixed benefits but with some downsides (like blue light).
The "Optical Window" for Penetration
One reason red and NIR are so frequently used in high quality LED devices is because they are within the “optical window” of ideal photobiomodulation (this is sometimes referred to as the “tissue window”). That window is said to be between 610 and 860 (Karu & Kolyakov, 2005). More recently, some other researchers argue the optical window extends up to 1100 nm (Lima et al., 2020).
This optical window offers the best penetration of light. And different tissue targets have an optimum wavelength at which they absorb light (Calderhead & Vasily, 2016). For example, within that band of 610-860, it may be best to avoid wavelengths between 700 and 780 nm as they have been found to be rather ineffective as it coincides with a trough in the absorption spectrum of cytochrome c oxidase.
So for the most part, you want to look for red (typically 633nm, but somewhere between 630-660nm) and NIR (look for 820-840nm, with 830nm being the gold standard) as those wavelengths have the most evidence to support them. Those are the two wavelengths that Omnilux uses in their Contour Mask.
Importantly, NIR penetrates deeper than red wavelengths. Whereas red light has a greater impact on more surface level skin benefits, NIR plays a bigger role in impacting deeper tissues and helps more with wound healing, pain and inflammation. But what we do know is that red and NIR work really well together.
In studies that compared red wavelengths alone compared to red plus NIR, the red plus NIR had the best results across a range of outcomes related to photoaging. (which is why one of my key recommendations it to make sure you get a mask that has both Red and NIR wavelengths.
So why add the 1072nm and will it penetrate well?
In my LED post with a deep dive of Low level light therapy (LLLT) I noted that researchers have claimed that wavelengths above 860nm tend to have more limited penetration because they are being superficially absorbed by the water in our skin. However, there is a dip in water absorption that lines up with the 1000-1100nm band which may explain why NIR wavelengths in this band are gaining popularity for deep penetration and to have a slightly different tissue target in the cells.
Warning: Nerdy Details
For LED therapy to work at its best, you want to have wavelengths with minimal absorption of water and/or melanin, which helps reduce heat generation and increase depth of penetration at the high-power settings needed to reach deep tissue pathologies.
The rationale behind Omnilux including the 1072nm wavelength–located strategically in the band that has a “valley” of improved absorption above 860nm–is because they wanted to include a wavelength that could penetrate a bit better. Given that males have thicker skin (due to higher levels of testosterone) than females, the theory is that they could benefit from having some of the lights use a higher wavelength to penetrate their skin better. Also, there is a growing understanding of the dermatologic effects of 1072 nm light and that this additional wavelength holds the potential to offer additional benefits for skin rejuvenation for everyone, and not just men.
What Does the Research Say about this Wavelength?
There aren’t many studies with skin rejuvenation outcomes that I could find on the benefits of 1072 wavelengths—but there has been an increase in studies more recently on wavelengths in the 1060-1100 band. And there are a few published studies that show the potential for this wavelength to offer significant benefits to the skin.
Fine Lines and Undereye Bags
One of the earliest studies examining the 1072nm found that using a device with 1072 light for 6 to 8 weeks reported that people in the study (primarily women between the ages of 40 and 65) noticed their skin looking better and saw some of their fine lines, especially around the eyes, get smoother. They also saw a big difference in reducing the puffiness under their eyes – that’s actually where the most noticeable results were seen (Stirling et al. 2005). while it was a randomized prospective double-blind placebo controlled self-reporting, the outcomes were self-reports of improvements. For example, 52% said their complexion improved (versus 20% in the control group) and 46% said it improved their under eye bags (versus 4% that said that in the control group).
What I find most promising are the studies that don’t focus on skin rejuvenation and instead look at outcomes like wound healing–finding that the 1072 wavelength can reduce healing time (as cited in Ngoc et al., 2022)
But it is important to note that I did not find any study that had a head to head comparison to see if 1072nm was better than other NIR wavelengths. So keep that in mind.
8/2023 Update with New 2023 Clinical Study using the Men's Mask
A new article by Mineroff and colleagues was published reporting results from a research study (one of the authors is an Omnilux Scientific Advisory Board Member) where the authors assessed the safety and efficacy of the Men’s mask. All 7 participants were men ages 25 and older that were asked to use the mask 3–5 times a week, 10 min per use, for 6 weeks.
The key outcomes were all related to facial rejuvenation and were determined by participant reported outcomes (which is a weak level of evidence, but it is still useful) and photographic digital skin analysis. They included: improvement of wrinkles, pores, UV spots, brown spots, and porphyrins (which can be related to acne as some bacteria that inhabit hair follicles produce porphyrins, and these compounds can contribute to inflammation and the development of acne).
This was still a small study, so I would take the results with a grain of salt, but the participants reported noticing significant improvements in the appearance of wrinkles, skin texture, and “a youthful appearance”. The photographic digital analysis demonstrated statistically significant improvements in wrinkles, brown spots, and porphyrins. (there were improvements in pores and UV spots, but those did not reach statistical significance).
Video Comparison of How the Masks Differ!
References
Bailey, S. H., Oni, G., Brown, S. A., Kashefi, N., Cheriyan, S., Maxted, M., … & Kenkel, J. M. (2012). The use of non‐invasive instruments in characterizing human facial and abdominal skin. Lasers in surgery and medicine, 44(2), 131-142.
Calderhead, R. G., & Vasily, D. B. (2016). Low level light therapy with light-emitting diodes for the aging face. Clinics in plastic surgery, 43(3), 541-550.
Firooz A, Rajabi-Estarabadi A, Zartab H, Pazhohi N, Fanian F, Janani L. The influence of gender and age on the thickness and echo-density of skin. Skin Res Technol. 2017 Feb;23(1):13-20. doi: 10.1111/srt.12294. Epub 2016 Jun 8. PMID: 27273751.
Karu, T. I., & Kolyakov, S. F. (2005). Exact action spectra for cellular responses relevant to phototherapy. Photomedicine and Laser Therapy, 23(4), 355-361.
Lima, Andrezza & Sergio, Luiz Philippe & Fonseca, Adenilson. (2020). Photobiomodulation via multiple-wavelength radiations. Lasers in Medical Science. 35. 10.1007/s10103-019-02879-1.
Mineroff, J., Austin, E., Feit, E., Ho, A., Lowe, B., Marson, J., … & Jagdeo, J. (2023). Male facial rejuvenation using a combination 633, 830, and 1072 nm LED face mask. Archives of Dermatological Research, 1-7.
Ngoc, L. T. N., Moon, J. Y., & Lee, Y. C. (2022). Utilization of Light‐Emitting Diodes (LEDs) for Skin therapy: Systematic Review and Meta‐analysis. Photodermatology, Photoimmunology & Photomedicine.
Penberthy, W. T., & Vorwaller, C. E. (2021). Utilization of the 1064 nm wavelength in photobiomodulation: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Lasers in Medical Sciences, 12.
Stirling RJ, Haslam JD (2007) A self-reported clinical trial investigates the efcacy of 1072 nm light as an anti-ageing agent. J Cosmet Laser Ther 9(4):226–230