Red light therapy is an advanced and multipurpose treatment used in everything from skincare therapies and facials to injury rehabilitation. Red light therapy can be a great way to prevent hair loss and thinning by improving blood flow to your existing hair follicles, however, specific light wavelengths work by penetrating the scalp’s surface, boosting cellular activity and blood flow. After a hair transplant, this can encourage healthier and greater hair growth and help create a thicker and fuller head of hair.
However, to set expectations, red light therapy won’t help to restore advanced hair loss in the same way that a hair transplant can. Red light therapy should be considered as a follow-up treatment to boost your hair transplant results – and only after your hair transplant clinician tells you that it’s safe to do so.
As with any targeted hair loss treatment, we always recommend consulting your nearest KSL Clinic team rather than opting for DIY at-home devices.
Red Light Laser Therapy for Hair Loss: Quick Facts
- Supports Healing – Red light therapy helps reduce inflammation, boost circulation, and speed up scalp recovery post-transplant.
- Enhances Results – It may improve graft survival and encourage healthier, stronger hair growth.
- Used as Aftercare – Best used a few days post-surgery (with your surgeon’s approval) as a complementary, not standalone, treatment.
What do our surgeons say?
“Red light therapy can be a powerful support tool after a hair transplant, helping to reduce inflammation and boost blood flow to encourage healthier, fuller regrowth — but it’s not a substitute for surgical intervention in advanced cases.”
Is Red light therapy the same as Laser Light Therapy
Red light therapy (RLT) and low-level laser therapy (LLLT) are closely related—but they’re not exactly the same thing.
Red light therapy uses LED lights to emit broad-spectrum red light, while low-level laser therapy (LLLT) uses focused laser light for deeper penetration and more targeted treatment—making LLLT generally more powerful and precise.
At KSL Clinic, we offer light therapy, or LLLT, this type of treatment has been available for many years. Still, it has advanced to provide modern, effective, and targeted treatments supported by extensive studies and research to quantify the results achievable.
What Are the Benefits of Red Light Therapy for Hair Loss or Thinning?
LED therapies penetrate the skin on the scalp and stimulate the production of a specific enzyme called cytochrome c oxidase. This enzyme is based in the mitochondria, the organelles within our cells, and is responsible for encouraging them to produce ATP, or adenosine triphosphate.
ATP sounds very complex, but it’s a naturally occurring molecule that carries energy around our bodies. Put simply, if we have more ATP, we have more cellular energy and activity, which results in a greater blood flow.
This is a non-surgical, non-invasive way to energise and activate hair follicles, prompt hair to shift into the growth phase and stay there longer, and improve the final appearance of a hair transplant.
Can Red Light Therapy Stop Pattern Baldness?
One of the many reasons we ask all patients to book a consultation is that we offer a comprehensive range of treatments, some of which might be more suited to each individual than others.
Red LED light doesn’t block the production of dihydrotestosterone (DHT), the main culprit in male pattern baldness. Therefore, we wouldn’t say that light therapies are a standalone or universally applicable solution to androgenetic alopecia (pattern baldness).
It’s also common for patients to schedule a series of red light laser treatments after a hair transplant to boost hair density and speed up the rate at which new growth fills in gaps of pre-transplant hair loss.
Get a cost for your hair transplant
Looking for a consultation regarding the hair transplant cost? Book a free consultation with us today to see what we can do for you.
Is There Any Evidence to Prove Red Light Therapies Are Useful in Promoting Hair Growth?
We mentioned that the long-standing use of red light laser treatments means there is a fairly substantial body of clinical research out there investigating its usage and benefits.
As a snapshot of some of these studies, we’ve collated just a handful to share the results.
| Study Information | Fundings |
| Lasers in Surgery and Medicine: Study analysing female hair restoration using red light laser and LED treatments, published in 2014 | Of 47 women participating in this research, those receiving red light therapy saw a 37% improvement in hair growth when compared with those receiving a placebo. |
| National Library of Medicine: Review of photobiomodulation treatments for female androgenetic alopecia, published in 2017 | Women with pattern hair loss treated with low-level laser therapy saw a 51% increase in hair growth, again compared to other participants in the placebo group. |
| Lasers in Surgery and Medicine: A clinical study of red light laser and LED therapies for male hair loss, published in 2013 | This study project found that men receiving LED light therapy experienced a 35% increase in new hair growth. |
What Are the Benefits of Red Light Therapy to Help Manage Thinning and Balding Hair?
Red light therapy is suitable for a wide range of hair loss concerns and is safe for almost all patient groups as a non-invasive, non-surgical treatment. We may also recommend LED light therapy for patients who are not good candidates for a hair transplant or want to try a gentler solution to restore their hair.
This therapy is very safe and requires no specific preparation or recovery time, which means:
- Patients do not need to anticipate scarring or visible signs of having had a hair restoration treatment
- Most can return to their normal activities or routines immediately after each laser hair appointment
- The treatment is pain-free and comfortable, and can improve the health and strength of current hair growth, helping to activate dormant follicles and prompt new hair to grow.
LED red light therapy can be used as an interim measure to augment the thickness and coverage of hair before a patient reaches a hair loss stage at which a hair transplant is the best option. It can also be a standalone treatment with regular maintenance sessions to sustain the results.
Learn More About Red Light Therapy for Hair Loss
If you’re interested in discussing how suitable red light therapy might be for your scalp and hair or want to compare the costs, outcomes, and viability of red light therapy vs. other non-surgical treatments, such as platelet-rich plasma therapy, you are welcome to schedule an appointment with any of the KSL Clinic practices.
We can examine your scalp and hair, discuss your expectations and wishes, and create a bespoke treatment plan specifically for you.
