Wellness
The Facial That Came From Outer Space
LED masks are NASA-tested skin boosters that don’t require needles.
Illustration: Ben Giles
You may have seen them on Instagram: featureless, eerie white masks glowing brightly in selfies by Jessica Alba, Kate Hudson, Chrissy Teigen, or even soccer player Paul Pogba. In photographs, these LED beauty masks can make even these attractive specimens of humanity look like Hannibal Lecter from The Silence of the Lambs.
The strange device dispenses the latest cutting-edge anti-aging regimen: LLLT, or low-level light therapy. The masks are studded with light-emitting diodes that pulse or flash in preprogrammed patterns of red, blue, and infrared light. Devotees swear that they are an electrical fountain of youth.