LYMA laser review: before and after photos

What is it?

This at-home device combines cold laser and blue LEDs to rejuvenate gradually, calm, and heal your skin with daily use. The expensive LYMA skincare is optional, but could give you faster results.

Unlike other at-home rejuvenation lasers, the LYMA laser does not trigger a healing response by damaging your skin with heat. The laser energy is nonthermal or ‘cold’, and it stimulates your skin cells instead.

The photons from the 808nm near-infrared laser reach your deepest tissue layers and give your cells an energy boost with a process called photobiomodulation. This reduces inflammation, boosts blood flow, and energises ALL your cells, so they not only build better collagen and elastin, but they’re protected too. It calms, heals, refreshes, hydrates, brightens, firms and safe guards your skin from oxidative and environmental damage too.

You can’t see NIR light so you also get four 470nm blue LEDs. These firstly let you know the power is on. Second, the light wavelength triggers a photochemical reaction which controls sebum, kills acne and other bacteria, to give you clear, blemish free skin.

It’s slightly different in the US 🇺🇸 because of the necessary FDA clearance needed to market and sell the laser. Here, instead of blue LEDs, you get four red LEDs of 620nm. These work to heal, brighten and revitalise the outer layer of your skin.

First impressions

The black, understated packaging is simple and refined, and it’s heavy too. It does a splendid job reminding me this is an expensive bit of kit. It’s beautiful 😍 and rather exciting to open.

The envelope opens out to reveal a beautiful A5 hardback matt-black user guide book, with fresh new paper smell. It’s beautiful and looks more like a fancy coffee-table book than a user guide.

Remove the laser, serum and spray mist to reveal a small hole in the tray. Use this to lift out the whole cardboard tray.

It’s all made of recyclable cardboard packaging ♻ Bravo, LYMA.

The LYMA laser kit contents:

• LYMA laser
• 30ml Oxygen Mist
• 50ml Oxygen Glide gel
• Neoprene storage pouch
• Battery charger
• Charging USB cable
• User guide book
• Membership card
• Charger manual & warranty

Quality & design

The LYMA laser device is a small but heavy cylindrical black wand. It feels expensive, made of superb quality tactile materials with a neat and durable construction. I love the simple black styling with engraved ‘LYMA’ logo towards the business end. It looks rather like an expensive, powerful torch, and it’s pleasing to hold.

Slightly recessed into the top is a textured, soft silicone push button. It’s the only control, and it simultaneously operates the laser and blue light – simply on or off.

You also get a small charging cradle and USB charging cord. I like this isn’t too bulky and there’s no mains plug, so you can use your own USB charging port or plug. I also like you must remove the battery to charge it. That way you can store the expensive laser device safely whilst it charges, rather than leaving it out where it’s vulnerable to knocks and damage.

A full battery charge takes up to 4 hours. All four blue lights stay lit once it’s fully charged. You get around 2 hours of use per charge. So, you’ll need a few charges per week if you use the laser for 30+ mins per day.

The total Li-ion battery life is good. You get at least 500 charging cycles, giving 1,000 hours of laser energy. LYMA says that’s enough for 10 years of use.

There’s a transparent plastic treatment lens on the opposite end of the laser. It’s smooth on the surface and really rather pretty, with rings and levels of teeny clear hexagons. They’re designed to refract the laser beam from the tiny pinprick laser aperture and diffuse it over a larger surface area. LYMA says it does this 25,000 times and so the energy delivered to our skin is 25,000 larger than traditional lasers (but they don’t say how big the originating beam is). This “ultra-diffused” energy is safe on your skin (and around your eyes) and allows you to treat a larger surface area, spread throughout the treatment lens.

LYMA Oxygen Mist & Glide gel

The kit comes with the Oxygen Mist spray (30ml) and Glide Gel (50ml). Use these before your laser session. You can use the Mist as part of your daily skincare routine too. They’re expensive – to buy more costs £99/$149 and should last for a month. 

They come in plastic bottles, which is a bit of a shame, as glass is infinitely recyclable, so better for our planet ♻️🌎.

The Mist gives your skin a good old dose of the star ingredient, oxygen. Then, the Glide gel sits like a hydrogel mask on your skin surface. It’s packed with moisturising goodies and more oxygen, and gives a lovely slip over your skin for smooth, soothing laser glides. You can use it as a nourishing 20-minute face mask too.

LYMA says they’ve made the Mist and Glide combo to optimise the results of the LYMA Laser…

“The Oxygen Mist’s pure active, stabilised oxygen deeply penetrates the skin while the Oxygen Glide’s patented Glycerin and highest quality, absorbable Hyaluronic acid hydrates, firms and smooths while dynamically facilitating the Laser’s capability to transform skin.”

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I’m all for a bit of “dynamic facilitation”, whatever that is. However, these products aren’t mandatory conductors as with microcurrent, Radio Frequency and ultrasound. The laser travels through your skin just fine without them. They’re simply cosmetic products to condition your skin. The laser does all the hard graft, and it works just fine without them. 

But don’t you need the Oxygen they contain?

Well, LYMA says Oxygen deprivation speeds up ageing. But their Mist and Glide protect your skin by flooding it with oxygen which boosts detoxing, blood flow, and moisture, to repair your skin barrier function and increase collagen production. 

Sounds good, right?

Hmm. A few problems here.

👉 First, it’s true that oxygen is awesome, and it helps heal chronic wounds. However, there’s no scientific evidence to show normal ageing skin lacks oxygen. When we’re healthy, we get plenty of oxygen from the air we breathe. And our blood delivers this oxygen to our organs, tissues, and cells, along with other much needed nutrients. We breathe out waste as carbon dioxide along with the oxygen we don’t need.

On their website, LYMA casually drops this little nugget “By the age of 40, the skin loses 60% of its oxygen capacity”. Yikes. Now, that sounds rather alarming. But they share no source for their statement and I’m unable to find any robust scientific or clinical evidence to support that healthy ageing skin lacks oxygen.

👉 Second, even if an oxygen boost were beneficial, there’s scant evidence that oxygen applied directly to the skin, either during an oxygen facial or in a potion or lotion, has any benefit at all. 

👉 And last, there’s little substance to this Active Stabilised Oxygen ingredient. I can’t find an official INCI ingredient name, listing or data for it. So, who knows how it’s made, what it’s made up of, how it gets to the deepest layers and what it does there? And LYMA doesn’t share test results of the LYMA laser used with versus without this wonder ingredient. So, it may or may not have the effect as billed. 

It may be no better for your skin than your current skincare products.

Here are the LYMA Glide and Mist ingredient lists decoded on incidecoder.com:

• LYMA Oxygen Glide ingredients list
• LYMA Oxygen Mist ingredients list

Before you start

It’s quick to get started because you don’t need to do a skin sensitivity test, and the instructions in the user guide are very easy to follow.

Skip passed all the sexy imagery and fancy-sounding marketing bumpf at the beginning. The instructional content about charging, how to use it, contraindications, and operational data is on the last few pages.

Contraindications for the LYMA laser are:

❌ DON’T use if:

• You have a medical condition which makes your skin sensitive to light, or if you’re taking any medications which make you sensitive to light.
• Don’t use over tumours, over-active thyroid, fungal skin infections, implanted pacemaker, melanoma.
• If pregnant, don’t use it over the abdominal area

Next, how to use the LYMA laser…

LYMA Laser routines

The LYMA laser is very easy to use. Common treatment areas are the face, neck, chest, hands, knees, and scars. A small hand-held mirror is helpful if you’ll treat frown lines, wrinkles, pigmentation, scars or spider veins.

Here’s how to treat your face and neck.. 

First, wash and dry your face. Then, get yourself comfy and apply 6 pumps of the Oxygen Mist around your face and neck. 

When it has soaked in, apply 6 pumps of the Oxygen Glide to your face and neck. You can use a foundation brush, or apply it with your fingers. 

The technique is simple. Divide your face and neck in half and work in strips the width of the treatment head to cover your skin in super slow glides. Back and forth along a strip is one rep. Do a minimum of 5 reps on each strip, then move onto the adjacent strip and repeat.

I like to begin at the bottom with my neck. Start just below your ear and work in up-and-down strips to the collarbone, along to the centre of the neck. Repeat on the other side.

On your face, start under your ear and glide in side-to-side strips along your jawline, working up your face to the top of your forehead. You can glide on the sides and down the ridge of the nose too.

Do slow semicircle glides around your mouth, along your under eye and over the brow bone area. Hold the laser for 3 additional minutes over trouble spots such as wrinkles and pigmentation, or where you need extra TLC. Then, repeat on the other side of your face.

It’s the same deal for your chest, hands, knees and any other area you’ll treat. Apply the Mist and Glide (if you like), then cover your skin in super-slow back-and-forth glides.  Treat each area for a minimum of 15 minutes, but ideally 30+ minutes to get your fastest results.

For thread veins, scars and bruises you hold the laser over each section for the specified time, as follows:

There’s no built-in timer in the laser. So, it’s a good idea to set a countdown alarm so you know you’ve treated each area for the minimum recommended time. Stop then if you need to. Or, do it all again on your face, neck, chest, hands, knees and other body areas to hit the ideal 30 minute treatment time.

Alternatively, LYMA says for best results, you can hold the laser for 3 minutes over each section of skin in your treatment area. This sounds ok for around the mouth and eyes. For me it’s about 6 positions to cover each which is 18 minutes each. It’s even ok for backs of hands with roughly 11 positions each (33 minutes per hand). But to cover my face is 3 minute holds is excessive. It’s around 60 positions (180 minutes or 3 hours). Yikes! So, my preference is gliding for 30 minutes per area. It’s reasonable and easy to fit in most days. Plus, I also like that it feels soothing and relaxing.

When you’re done, turn off the laser, wipe it with a damp cloth and store it safely. Or charge it if it needs more juice ready for your next session. Use a damp LYMA sponge or a face-cloth to wipe the Glide gel from your skin. Follow with your favourite skincare.

What does it feel like?

First, the LYMA skincare products are pleasant. The Oxygen Mist is refreshing, the Oxygen Glide gel gives excellent slip for the laser glides. Both feel good, but for me they’re nothing extraordinary. My skin feels hydrated and smooth, but no more than with my regular serum.

I like there’s no cord to get in the way and the laser is super simple to use on hands, decolletage and easy-to reach areas of my legs.

I rather enjoy the facial routine. You don’t have to apply the Glide gel. The smooth laser lens slides easily around my facial contours without it. It’s quick to master the best grips for different facial areas. I also like applying a bit of pressure with the laser wand and this makes for a stimulating massage sensation around my face (with added face squishing 🥴).

However, compared to rival handheld devices, the laser is heavy and a tad chunky. This makes it a little awkward to reach under your chin and jaw, and tiring if used for longer periods on your face or chest.

To combat this, you can alternate your grips from fingertips to a fist to lessen the strain. I also sit on my bed and support my arm by resting my elbow on my bent knee. This helps take the weight and lessen any strain. However, it’s perfectly comfy for treating hands and legs. That’s because the weight of the device rests down on the treatment area.

The laser routines require very little concentration and you can’t really get it wrong. It doesn’t matter if you lose count on your glides. Just start again from 1. You can’t overdo it.

Schedule, effort & results

Use the LYMA laser daily for at least 3 months. Continue for further improvements, or drop to 2 or 3 sessions per week to maintain your results.

Several of the subjects in LYMA’s before vs after photos use the laser for 45 minutes per session. So, it’s clear more is best with the LYMA laser. Do as much as you can up to a maximum of 1 hour per area. LYMA suggests you aim for 30+ minutes of slow glides with the laser. Concentrate more of this effort, or spend a little extra on holds, on areas that need extra TLC, such as around the eyes, mouth and lips, dry or thin bits, and pigmentation. This will give you excellent rejuvenation results within 3 months.

So, it’s clear the LYMA laser is a big commitment, especially if you have multiple areas to treat. It’s ok to miss the occasional session. Life happens. You can try to make up missed sessions on subsequent days, but don’t fall too far behind!

I soon realised it’s best to laser each treatment area for the minimum 15 minutes e.g. full face, full neck, both hands etc. Then, do it all again for another 15 minutes per area. If you get tired or don’t have time to do the second round, then at least you’ll give ALL your treatment areas the minimum daily laser-love that they need. This way, you’ll see consistent results in all areas.

It gets easier once it’s embedded in your daily routine, too. Plus, it’s good to dedicate yourself a little self-care down-time each day.

I like the Glide gel is optional, and it takes very little concentration. I watch TV, listen to music or a podcast, and can even read my Kindle during my treatments. So, it’s easy to combine into several downtime activities versus other rival devices.

LYMA suggests you can use the portable laser any time during the day, for example at your desk, at the kitchen table or watching TV. This makes it easier to focus on several treatment areas. But this doesn’t work for me. 

First, because I simply don’t think to use it during the day. But it’s easy to remember as part of my wind-down evening routine. And second, I’m terrified of dropping and breaking this expensive laser! Therefore, I’m happier with it tucked away in my bedside drawer where it’s safe from curious hands and clumsy knocks.

Advertised results

What it fixes: firms & smooths skin texture, improves elasticity, plumps fine lines & wrinkles, strengthens muscle tone, fades sun-damage & thread veins, heals acne, scars & rosacea, smooths cellulite, lifts eye area

The LYMA laser needs consistent daily use. During a session your skin may flush pinky-red because it increases your blood flow. But there’s no pain, skin irritation, or other side effects.

It typically takes 4+ weeks of use to notice subtle changes, with significant improvements in your target area after 3 months of use. My trial results match this guidance. More on that below.

So, changes are slow and subtle as each daily session energises your skin cells, in turn strengthening, rebuilding and replenishing your collagen and elastin to heal and rejuvenate your skin.

Here’s what to expect for your different targeted treatments:

• See changes in acne and rosacea from 1+ months of daily use, with significant improvement after 3+ months.
• See noticeable fading of scars at around 2 months of daily use, but keep going for significant changes after 3 to 6 months.
• For firmer, brighter healthier skin, with softened wrinkles and more elasticity, most see improvements at 1+ month using the laser 30-minutes daily. Keep going for 3+ months for your best rejuvenating results.

Learn about my results next…

My LYMA Laser before & after photos

I’ve tried red and Near-infrared LED light therapy before. And I saw excellent results, especially from the Dermalux Flex MD light therapy panel. But the LYMA is the only at-home cold laser which also uses photobiomodulation to work magic on your skin. So, I’m eager to see how it compares.

I’ve decided to treat two problem areas I’ve not focused on in previous trials. That’s the annoying red thread vein on my right cheek and my crinkled old-lady hands! 

Let’s take a look.

I hope to get considerably younger looking hands. The skin here is very thin, dry, with a scaly texture and a weird sallow colour. My right hand is worse I assume because it gets more sun exposure when I’m driving. 

And I’d love to fade the red spider vein. Not many devices claim they work on these. However, I’m mindful LYMA don’t have a before vs after photo for spider veins on their website. I live in hope…

Let’s move on.

I use the LYMA laser on an evening relaxing on my bed. I do my hands first for 20 minutes each. Why 20 minutes you say? – because at the same time, on my legs I use the Flex MD light therapy panel which requires 20 minute sessions to do it’s thing.

I then hold the laser agianst the spider vein on my cheek for 30 minutes.

And I feel the results on my hands very quickly.

1 to 4 weeks

After just 1 week, I feel a change in my skin, but only on my left hand 👍. The skin is a little springier to my touch and the colour looks less deathly. And because of this my motivation is high. I miss only 3 sessions during the first month.

Over the next two weeks the skin on both my hands starts to feel noticeably thicker and padded. But it’s still very dry, lacking elasticity, and it looks like roast chicken skin 🍗! Ah-boo.

It’s at the end of 4 weeks that my hands look a bit healthier too. They’re meatier, and with this the colour is clearer and brighter, so the weird yellow-green and orangey-brown undertone is fading. 

But they’re still dry and scaly on the surface. 

So, I see the rejuvenation effects are building from the lower skin layers up, and it needs more time to reach the outside. 

At this 4-week marker, there’s no change in the red spider vein on my cheek.

2 to 3 months

Over the following 4 weeks the skin on my hands slowly but surely improves further. I miss a handful of sessions.

After 2 months there’s considerably more volume and better hydration. My skin feels plump and smooth, and has some glow about it. I’m conscious I often stroke the back of my hands. But I can’t help it. They feel lovely. This is very encouraging.

There’s no change in the red spider vein.

The next month is a busy one for me and I miss ten sessions. So, at the 3 month mark, despite seeing further improvement, I’m not quite satisfied. I decide to keep going a little longer. 

Red spider vein remains. 

Before & After 4 months comparison

And it’s after a further 1.5 months and a total 108 session I’m finally happy with my new, smooth and youthful hands. 

Check out the comparison photos…

I have smooth, hydrated and elastic skin. It’s plumped, meaty and bouncy, with a clearer, unified colour. I still see the dark spots from sun damage. But in all, the skin looks ALIVE. And it kinda sparkles!

I love these results. And maintenance is much easier to fit in. Two sessions a week works for me.

But unfortunately, I saw no change in my facial spider vein.

I’ve given it over one hundred 30-minute sessions. That’s heaps. And nadda. It’s disappointing, and I’m not prepared to keep trying. It’s just too much effort for no noticeable benefit. Here are the comparison photos for you to see…

The Negatives

There are a few negatives to consider with the LYMA laser kit.

First up, as mentioned earlier, the start-up stage demands time and daily commitment. 15 to 30 minutes for the facial routine is ok, but you’ll need even more time if you’ll treat multiple body areas. It’s manageable for just a couple of small facial or body areas. And it’s easier and less time-consuming during maintenance with two or three 15-minute sessions per area per week.

The Flex MD red and NIR light therapy panel is much more practical if you want medical photbiomodulation treatment on larger or multiple body areas in one day.

Second, again covered earlier, the wand shape is a tad chunky and sometimes awkward around your face because it doesn’t have an angled treatment head. It’s also rather heavy because of the rechargeable battery inside. So, in all it’s a little less comfy and ergonomic than other handheld devices. And particularly if treating your face for longer than 15 minutes. However, it takes just a few sessions to find your best technique and grips, and it’s easy and very pleasant once you know how.

Next, whilst it’s easy to reach most areas on the front of your body, it’s not so for the back. Therefore, you may need a helpful assistant for hard-to-reach areas such as cellulite on the backs of legs or acne on your back.

And, as discussed earlier, the LYMA Oxygen Mist and Glide Gel are nice enough, but very expensive. Plus, there’s no INCI listing, scientific rationale or clinical data for the effect of the key ingredient ASO. You get a month’s supply in the kit. If you like and you can afford them, you can join LYMA’s ongoing monthly subscription service.

But if you aren’t fussed or can’t afford the monthly cost, don’t sweat it. They are not powerful drugs to transform your skin. It won’t suffocate from lack of oxygen, and you’ll get equally ‘optimised’ results from the laser without them. 

WOWSER 🤑 – it’s expensive

And finally, the LYMA laser is very expensive indeed, at £1,999/$2,695 😵.

And there’s no money back guarantee either. Boo.

Now LYMA can justify this price because it’s the only at-home rejuvenation cold laser you can buy. And this at-home tech is expensive to develop and build. It certainly feels a top-quality bit of kit.

But the real justification for this hefty price tag must be in the results. It’s billed as an impressive multi-tasker to treat an array of concerns other individual devices can’t, including rejuvenation, acne, scars, cellulite and spider veins. I can vouch for the significant and pleasing rejuvenation effects, but unfortunately not for fading my pesky spider vein.

It also irks me that LYMA use fuzzy language around the clinical test status for the LYMA laser. They say the technology behind the LYMA laser is extensively tested. e.g.

“almost all the plausible peer-reviewed evidence uses LYMA’s technology as the light source.”

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LYMA’s technology is low-level light therapy (LLLT) laser photobiomodulation with a 808nm laser. But it doesn’t then follow that all low-level 808nm lasers with tests are the new LYMA laser. So, whilst on the surface it sounds like the LYMA laser itself has undergone a clinical test or two, that’s not specifically stated anywhere. I asked LYMA for more information on their studies but I received only generic studies and papers on LLLT photobiomodulation.

This doesn’t necessarily mean the LYMA laser is no good. I saw excellent rejuvenation results. But it could mean that the advertised results are not as reliable or as broad and deep as stated. This may not bother you. But I very much like and trust at-home beauty brands that have clear, supporting clinical evidence for their devices to back-up their claims. So, it’s disappointing the expensive LYMA laser most likely lacks this.

LYMA Laser deals 🏷