Evolving Skin Care LED... Use It Instead of a Mask

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[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] Amid the recent surge in mask-type LED devices for skin disease treatment and beauty, a research team at KAIST has developed a lighter and more versatile patch-type LED device.

On the 10th, KAIST announced that Professor Geonjae Lee's team from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and Professor Sangho Oh's team from Yonsei Severance Hospital have developed a surface-emitting micro LED skin patch to inhibit melanin production.

Melanin is a brown or black pigment present in the skin, and when abnormally synthesized due to external factors such as ultraviolet rays or stress, it appears in the form of conditions like melasma, freckles, and age spots, thus requiring proper treatment.

The surface-emitting micro LED skin patch developed by the research team is a wearable phototherapy patch made using extremely small LED chips that are 1/100th the thickness of human hair. Unlike conventional point-emitting LEDs, it features surface emission characteristics through light scattering using spherical silica particles.

Although LED devices for skin disease treatment and beauty have been continuously released recently, their therapeutic effects remain controversial. This is because LEDs cannot closely adhere to the skin, causing light loss due to distance and heat generation issues, which may lead to adverse effects. To achieve meaningful skin beauty effects, the LED light source must be closely attached to the skin to uniformly deliver light effectively into the dermis.

The research team implemented thousands of micro LEDs on a 4×4 cm plastic substrate and coated it with silica particles for light diffusion, producing a surface-emitting micro LED patch that can adhere closely to the skin. The 100-micrometer (μm) sized micro LEDs are very small and flexible, and vertically arranged electrodes reduce LED heat generation, allowing long-term operation on human skin without thermal damage.

The team confirmed the melanin production inhibition efficacy by closely attaching and irradiating the surface-emitting micro LED patch on human skin cells and mouse dorsal skin. Compared to existing commercial LEDs, it showed less toxicity to skin tissue and successfully reduced melanin production effectively and consistently. Furthermore, skin tissue analysis confirmed the suppression of proteins and enzymes involved in melanin production, including MITF (microphthalmia-associated transcription factor), Melan-A, and tyrosinase.

Professor Geonjae Lee stated, "The inorganic-based surface-emitting micro LED patch developed this time has excellent light efficiency, reliability, and lifespan," adding, "Unlike existing phototherapy devices, it reduces side effects and maximizes therapeutic effects, which will have a significant impact on the cosmetic field."

The research results were published this month in the international journal Advanced Healthcare Materials.

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