New Dec 2025 Review: Melasma, Hyperpigmentation & NIR Light

Hello everyone! This is already the last newsletter of 2025. Happy 2026 soon - we'll keep you updated of lots of new science and developments in the space in that year!

Today we've got a quite special topic, that is still the topic of discussion today, which is the "brown spots" or "hyperpigmentation" on the face, and red light therapy. We'll cover a new Dec 2025 review on this topic below today. And, as always, we've added our latest articles and content at the end of this newsletter...

First up:

Massive New Melasma & Light Therapy Review Dec 2025

First, a little background. Bart has been tracking this topic for years and knows the anecdotal evidence is different from the science on this topic. Here's a recent poll on this topic, that Bart created, in the Facebook group:

You can join our Facebook group and view the poll HERE - and vote as well, as we've got 120 votes so far.

So as you can see from the poll above, about 70% of people respond well to the near-infrared (NIR) wavelengths from ligth therapy, for facial appearance (hyperpigmentation in particular). But, 30% of people don't respond well and have adverse effects.

It's therefore very exciting to keep up with the science on this topic, as apparently, some people respond poorly to NIR on the face. Which is where the new December 2025 review on this topic comes in.

Also, if you didn't know - Bart has created a deep dive article on the topic of light therapy and hyperpigmentation/melasma here:

(That article contains a YouTube video too!)

But let's go back to the topic of the Dec 2025 review. The word "review" here implies that previous high-quality science is analyzed and integrated on this topic. The topic here is laser treatment for melasma (to fade the brown spots!). A total of 16 earlier studies were included here.

Now the surprise. Local treatment on the melasma with NIR led to less severity in these locations. Here's what researchers write:

" A meta‐analysis of 16 research studies (26 treatment arms) was performed to determine the efficacy of laser therapy for melasma. Treatment resulted in a significant improvement in MASI scores, with a pooled standardized mean difference of 0.88 (95% CI: 0.65–1.11, p < 0.00001)."

The "MASI" here stands for Melasma Area and Severity Index, so it's an indication of how bad the melasma is. Overall though, there's a reduction in melasma, not an increase in this review, even with NIR light.

Although the review does include different studies with different types of light, including 540 nm green light which seems to work really well too. So there's no easy conclusion here.

Now, it gets really complicated once we start talking about the treatment parameters of these studies. The treatment parameters, such as wavelength, power density, treatment frequency, are all over the place, except maybe that a LOT of NIR is used.

(For the nerds, if you want more info on the treatment parameters, check table 1 and 2 of the Dec 2025 review).

The outcome of the review? When all the statistical outcomes of the studies are pooled, here's what the researchers write:

"Each study was weighted based on its precision, and the final pooled effect was calculated across 16 studies (26 treatment arms in total). The standardized mean difference was estimated at 0.88 [95% CI: 0.65–1.11] (p < 0.00001), indicating a statistically and clinically significant improvement in melasma following laser therapy"

So, once again, this review shows a decrease in melasma on the face, quite contrary to what some people in our Facebook group report! What's even more interesting about the review is that many of the lasers that do best for hyperpigmentation and melasma, are of the 1,000 nm+ variant, which people typically fear most for hyperpigmentation.

The Nd:YAG lasers use 1,064 nm, the Er:YAG 2,940 nm, then there's a "Fractional non-ablative laser" 1,550 nm laser, and some 730 nm and 755 nm specialized lasers, and the 540 nm green light.

Yes, we're sorry for the complicated names of these lasers!

In normal settings, the 2,940 nm and 540 nm are most effective here, and the 1064 nm (Nd:YAG laser) with a very special "picosecond" configuration.

Yes, life just got more complicated. Pfew...

These lasers can be used infrequently, such as in 5-week intervals three times over. Overall, across studies, there was a moderate-to-large clinical improvement, so the effect is quite strong and noticeable!

Side effects were very rare and usually mild, and included redness, first degree burns (no bueno, with laser overuse!), hives, and other types of hyperpigmentation.

Recurrence rates in the studies were between 0 and 50%, but only 3 studies took that outcome into account. So we need a lot more research there!

Overall, this development is quite interesting. We do acknowledge that the laser treatment for melasma in a clinic is slightly diffferent than what you'd get with a red light therapy mask or panel. Nevertheless, the Dec 2025 review above does show that NIR isn't inherently damaging to the face.

So we need to find out what makes some people report side effects while this isn't the case for others. We also need better followup for many of these laser studies, as we don't know the long-term effects in great detail.

Nevertheless, it's a great new datapoint. We'll keep you updated on this topic in the near future for sure!

Here Are Our Latest Light Therapy Insiders' Articles:

Every single article that we've published recently - you can find the videos in the article itself:

Stop Overthinking Red Light Therapy Devices - people are really overthinking red light therapy, and here Alex brings you back to the basics to explain on what to focus on if you're wanting to buy a device!
Better Than Red Light Therapy Masks? My Top Picks - Here are some of Alex's alternatives for red light therapy masks - not everyone should buy a mask and arguably, for most people, there are far better options available!
I Trained An AI On 7 Years Of Data: Meet Your Red Light Therapy Assistant - Alex created a hugely important AI version of himself, that knows all of our Light Therapy Insiders website content as well as lots of science. The AI helps you find any answer to any question using the content we've produced over the last few years. Enjoy!!
9 Mistakes To Avoid When Buying A Red Light Therapy Mask - Here's all you need to know about selecting the best red light therapy mask. Many people make either one or multiple of these mistakes and therefore end up with a product they regret buying, or that's not working as well as it should