It has certainly generated a lot of comments on TIA over the past two months, so I thought I’d share my experiences with the Sirius Aurora LED Light Therapy System ($149 in the TIA shop) with the community.  To say I was enthused by Marta’s initial post on the Aurora on March 3 is an understatement—I actually was the very first to comment (with the question, when will it be available on the TIA shop?).  So you can take that to mean either (1) this product really got my attention or (2) I seriously need to get a life.   Or both.

So when indeed the Aurora became available the following week, I promptly placed my order.   I loved the idea of LED and the fact that this product supported multiple light frequencies—and at an incredible price point.  My idea was to use it every night, alternating evenings between the red light to combat wrinkles and aging, and the green, to deal with skin tone and spots.  (I don’t have acne, though come summer I might give the blue light a try if I feel breakouts coming on.)  And I have been faithful to that plan:  it’s been almost seven weeks since I started this regime (46 evenings, actually) and I am either proud or embarrassed to say I’ve only skipped two nights.  (See above—as in, get a life.)  So that’s 23 sessions a piece with each mode.  The results have been positive, and in ways that have surprised me a bit as well.

By background, I’m 55, and acutely aware of everything that comes with that.  My face shows signs of aging and sagging, and I’m concerned especially about “marionette” lines, lines around the mouth, crow’s feet and under-eye crinkling, and most disturbingly a couple of horizontal lines that have taken up residency across the forehead.  I also have some freckling and hyperpigmentation spots.  I’m assured that none of this is particularly bad or pronounced for my age—but that is never a consolation, as TIA readers probably know.  And at another stage (and in another economy) I was a regular at the dermatologist’s office, and was very pleased the results of glycolic peels and microdermabrasion for pigmentation, wrinkles, and overall brightness and tone.  I got those treatments pretty consistently throughout my forties.  And about five years ago (I’m mentioning this thinking of Copley’s post on March 25 on pre-wedding treatments, which referred to this) I had two IPL sessions, which were extremely effective on pigmentation and dark spots.  All of that was fantastic, and probably kept some of the aging demons at bay, but all of it very expensive.

So I turned to the Aurora as an adjunct to what has become a diligent program of serums, creams, and cleansers from the TIA hit parade.  The first challenge was figuring out what to do with the thing—as several commenters have noted, Sirius doesn’t include instructions in the box, though they are pretty clear on the website.  Basically, each area to be treated gets three minutes of attention in the “pulse” mode, followed by three in the steady light mode.  The site instructs you to begin with three minutes of pulsed light on each of three face sections—segmented horizontally—and an additional three minutes apiece of continuous light on each of five areas (dividing the cheeks and forehead into two).  My plan was also to put the Aurora to use on my hands and neck/décolleté.

This turns out to be a big commitment; in the end I’ve been doing nine minutes on the face (in three sections) in pulse mode, and then 12 (not 15) in continuous mode—I found I couldn’t really address five separate different sections and settled on four.   Then three minutes pulse, three minutes steady, on the back of each hand, and on the neck.  A total of 39 minutes!  Generally I did this while watching the latest from the “Real Housewives,” which of course makes time fly, but it was a bit of a bore when squinting or closing my eyes whenever the device—which Marta points out has a rather large, oval-shaped working surface—was nearby.  (Which is a lot of the time, and raises the question debated in several reader comments about the use of goggles with the Aurora.   I have probably been less than prudent in exposing my eyes, particularly because I have used the green light directly on my eyelids, which have a couple of pronounced freckles.  It would be great if the TIA community could get some definitive guidance from Sirius about how to manage eye exposure).

In using the Aurora with the green light, I simply applied it to freshly-cleansed skin.  For the red light, I first slathered on a vitamin C serum or YBF antioxidants.  And in addition to the usual assortment of eye creams and moisturizers, I also used La Vie Celeste Glycolic mask about once a week, and the divine YBF Prep twice weekly.

And after all that – the results?  Better than I expected, if less than miraculous.   Use of the red light seems to have improved skin appearance and firmness, with some marginal, but real, impact on those wrinkles, especially around the eyes.  The surprise was the green light.  I can report definite and noticeable effects on the freckles and pigmentation.  The tops of my hands, in particular, are significantly improved.  A half-dozen big freckles have partially faded, and a constellation of lighter, larger splotches are now, depending on the light, nearly invisible.   On my face, the overall pigment is more consistent, a couple of freckles are less pronounced, and an area of discoloration I’ve had forever—sort of a light, dime-sized area near my jaw line—has faded noticeably.   In fact, when I saw a cousin (whose known me forever) a couple of weeks ago on the way to getting a haircut—without any makeup on at all—she actually commented on how even my skin tone appeared.  Without a leading question.

These results have really impressed me.  IPL provided a more dramatic and immediate effect on pigmentation, and I would still recommend it for those looking for an intensive treatment and with money to, well, burn. But at $150, the Aurora has delivered excellent results, and I’ll keep using it.  I’ll probably go into a more routine mode of a few times a week, focusing on particular problem areas, and using both the red and green lights.

My only concern, which I’m confident can be addressed, is the performance of the Aurora unit. Mine seems to have an unpredictable tendency to turn itself off for no apparent reason.  At first I thought this was due to the placement of the controls—perhaps I inadvertently hit the power button as I grasped the Aurora handle.  But I don’t think that was the problem. It’s annoying since the device is programmed to “beep” at three-minute intervals, so when it quits unexpectedly, I needed to recalculate the time. I haven’t been able to figure out what prompts these sudden shutdowns, and I imagine it’s an issue the manufacturer is addressing.  I’ve been in touch with Marta, who has told me that a small number of Aurora buyers have reported a problem, and that Sirius has been great about replacing their products.  I think I do need to swap mine, but swap it I will.  I’m hoping to see continued positive effects from the Aurora.

The Sirius Aurora is now available in the TIA shop with complimentary samples of Your Best Face Antioxidants Concentrate and Hydrate B Concentrate.