>Home>Anti-Aging Cosmetic Procedures>Quasar Baby

Quasar Baby IPL Home Treatments

Do It Yourself Cosmetic Procedures with Quasar Baby?

Hi Jean,

I'm sorry it has taken me awhile to reply to your emails.

Thanks very much for writing back and for your before and after photos - which look great! I've been thinking about this

treatment for awhile and I would really like to also try it around my eyes - so I'm glad to hear that it has been approved and is being done.

My understanding was that you have to have more than one treatment, but it sounds like you just had the one treatment.

If you only need one, maybe I will explore doing it in Mexico if it is a lot cheaper - I don't know.....I really appreciate all your helpful info on that - as I never would have thought of that.

On a different subject, I was just reading about the Baby Quasar for $450 - it is a home IPL treatment that some women are raving about. Have you heard of it? I'll have to look at your website again, as you may have info there.

Thanks again.

Amrita

---

More on Thermage

You’re correct: I only had one Thermage treatment and am not considering another one for some time. I prefer to wait the full two years that the treatment is expected to last and then decide what to do. Who knows what may be available by then!

If I do go for another, I will ask if there is anything I can take pre-treatment to minimize the pain. As I described in my first article, the sensation is like the zap of facial electrolysis – but 600 times!

Baby Quasar

Perhaps you’ve read this very long and raving thread regarding the Baby Quasar on Essential Day Spa’s Forum.

The manufacturer, Advanced Therapeutics, named their gizmo Baby Quasar because it’s a smaller version of the professional machine which costs over $1500.

As they say, truth is stranger than fiction. If you trust NASA, it seems that LED photorejuvenation therapy really does work.

NASA believes LED light therapy has applications for astronauts during extended space flight, as well as to treat various forms of injury, and perhaps even cancer, here on earth.

It is known that human cells need gravity to stimulate cell growth. Muscle and bone atrophy are well documented in astronauts. Various minor injuries occurring in space have been reported not to heal until after the return to earth.

Space program scientists have long been concerned about the risks to human cells posed by microgravity. NASA sought a therapy that would stimulate cell growth to counteract this lack of gravity.

To quote one NASA report, “Potential benefits [of LED therapy] to NASA, military, and civilian populations include treatment of serious burns, crush injuries, non-healing fractures, muscle and bone atrophy, traumatic ischemic wounds, radiation tissue damage, compromised skin grafts, and tissue regeneration.”

There has been a proliferation of photodynamic therapy machines brought to market: both IPL (Intense Pulse Light); and LED (Light Emitting Diode).

Two IPL machines have been released for home use (Beurer SoftLaser VSL40 and SoftTouch/Nulase Laser). Advanced Therapeutics, with its Baby Quasar, was the first-to-market with an LED photodynamic therapy machine designed for home use.

Not being an electrical engineer or NASA scientist, all I can do is compare the technical specs of the NASA theory to the Baby Quasar. I can’t say whether the slight differences make the Baby Quasar more or less effective.

Comparison of Baby Quasar to NASA Theory

NASA found that optimal LED wavelengths for tissue penetration are 680, 730 and 880 nanometers (billionths of a meter). Baby Quasar uses wavelengths of 630 to 950 nm.

NASA also experimented with different levels of energy to deliver the light. They found that, at 4 joules per square centimeter, DNA synthesis in fibroblasts and muscle cells could be quintupled.

[Joule is a measure of energy. One joule is equivalent to one watt radiated for one second.]

Baby Quasar uses 2.6 joules per square centimeter and claims it is the most powerful LED device on the market.

That’s a bit of marketing hype because the professional models produce between 20 and 50 joules.

Application of LED Therapy for Photo-rejuvenation

Most of the LED rejuvenation machines on the market (including Baby Quasar) have received, or have applied for, FDA approval.

The medical professionals who treat visible signs of aging have clearly bought on to the theory. They report very satisfied customers and even post before and after pictures on their websites.

My only reservation regarding the Baby Quasar is the greater potential for misuse in the hands of non-medically trained consumers.

The human machine is just that – a machine. It is a physical conglomeration of physical parts. Parts wear out and break down. The more stress placed on them, the sooner they will do so.

Light in the red and near-infrared wavelengths stimulate cells to convert food energy into adenosine 5’-triphosphate (ATP) energy.

This is the human version of photosynthesis and cellular respiration. ATP transports energy within the cells for metabolism, cell division and other important processes.

I mention metabolism and cell division because these are the two most relevant for skin rejuvenation. We can absorb these beneficial wavelengths from the sun, but at the same time we would be absorbing damaging UV waves which are very aging.

LEDs emit no UV waves. The only negative I have read about phototherapy is one study that concluded too much exposure to laser light increases cell oxidation, also known as free radical damage, which is also very aging (Photochemical and Photobiological Sciences, 2002, 1, 547–552).

It seems we can’t have our cake and eat it too.

When I read on some forums that users are so happy with the Baby Quasar (which uses LED light rather than laser), they are using it every day and on other parts of the body, I feel I should issue a caution. We really don't know the long term effects.

If you decide to buy one, be sure to follow the manufacturer’s instructions and keep reading about this therapy. We really don’t know the long term effects because these machines haven’t been in use long enough.

---

I have recently come across your blog and website, which was posted on the EDS forum, under the BABY Q posts.

I think your link was on page 40 or 41. You may want to check out what they are saying about you.

As for me, I agree with your information about the NASA study not showing anything about LEDS being used for anti-aging.

I have posted in the EDS forum, page 40, name: Rita55, and asked some key questions to the owner and sales man of Quasar Baby, James, with no response to my question.

Namely they use an aluminum cone with the Quasar Baby model to intensify spot txs on the face. If you read my post, I asked how this particular cone "bends light".

If Advanced Therapeutic can bend light, then NASA and every other research lab in the world needs to know this!!!

Advanced Therapeutic answers every one elses' questions,...but mine. Interesting I might say.

I would be interested in what you think.

Sincerely,

Rita

---

Dear Rita,

Thank you for the heads up. I read your Essential Day Spa Forum comments and questions on Quasar Baby and thought they were excellent.

I guess that’s partly because we seem to agree on many points.

I trust NASA research and believe that LED treatment has wonderful potential. I can accept the theory that, if NASA research shows LED therapy works for tissue regeneration, it will be effective for reversing the visible signs of aging.

However at this point, NASA is only willing to postulate tissue regeneration as a “potential benefit”. Clearly, the NASA scientists are excited about LED therapy but feel further study is needed.

The Baby Quasar specs differ from NASA’s LED equipment in both wavelengths (for optimal tissue penetration) and joules (the amount of energy used to deliver the light).

It’s exciting that anecdotal reports, as well as before and after photos, support the Baby Quasar manufacturer’s claims for photo rejuvenation.

But users are taking a lot on faith here. They are accepting a theoretical leap from the NASA research and from the NASA equipment. You put it beautifully when you said, “We are ‘lab rats’ at this point.”

I only saw one reference to my blog on the forum. The author questioned my credentials.

That’s odd because they are summarized on the right side of my blog screen for all to see. I write many of the articles for Ageless Beauty, which means I spend countless hours doing basic research.

Post-graduate study in statistics enables me to understand and interpret scientific data. I second your call for more data on Baby Quasar.

Are you afraid of needles, scalpels and other invasive cosmetic procedures? Look into advanced peptide based skin care from Apotek.

No Botox, No Surgery, Just Smart Skin

This article is for informational purposes only. It does not purport to offer medical advice.

 

| Top | AntiAging Cosmetic Procedures | Home |