Expert reveals the best way to banish wrinkles - and it's NOT retinol

It's the skincare staple most women have in their beauty kit.

But using a retinol – renowned for its anti-ageing benefits – could soon be replaced by simply bathing your face in infra-red lights, according to an expert.

Shark Ninja – best known for vacuum cleaners and air fryers – has invented a therapy mask that it claims to be the best way to banish wrinkles.

The £270 device shines different wavelengths of light onto the face to help maintain 'luminous skin' and a youthful glow.

When used daily for four weeks, people said their skin radiance was boosted by 16 per cent.

The mask boasts 160 LEDs that radiate blue, red and infrared light, which can penetrate the skin at different depths.

Sam Bannister, design director at Shark Ninja, told the Daily Mail: 'With red and infra-red lights, they have a long wavelength.

'As the photons from the light travel from the LED to the skin, they're able to penetrate or be absorbed much, much deeper.'

Mr Bannister added: 'Then there's a chain reaction that happens.

The light causes the skin's cells to operate at a higher energy level so they upregulate ATP production, which is like the power source of the cell.

'As your skin, for example, produces collagen – this would trigger it to produce more and more.

'So we're not adding anything or taking away. We're just making your skin work harder to be the best it can be.'

Retinol, which has become a skin staple in recent years, works by increasing the rate at which skin cells are produced and die, whim in turn exfoliates the skin and unclogs pores.

It also increases collagen production, which can reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.

'Retinols promote cell proliferation turnover, and this mask also does that, so you could, for example, swap that out,' Mr Bannister said.

However, he still recommends using a moisturiser following any LED treatment.

It was back in the 1990s that NASA began studying the effects of LEDs in promoting wound healing in astronauts by helping cells and tissues grow.

Now, in today's beauty industry, LED lights are touted to treat everything from wrinkles, redness, and signs of aging to acne, scarring and dark spots.

They emit red light acts on cells in the skin known as fibroblasts, which play a role in production of collagen, the protein linked with skin's hydration and elasticity.

Meanwhile, some that emit blue LED light claim to treat acne by reducing activity in the sebaceous glands so they produce less of the oil that can plug the hair follicles.

The Shark Beauty CryoGlow mask – which also features under-eye cooling – is one of several LED masks that are especially proving a hit for social media users.

However, Dr Graeme Glass, a professor of clinical surgery at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York, called use of LED masks 'highly questionable'.

'The popularity of LED masks, including the various at-home options like Iron Man-like masks, sunbed-style shields, and handheld wands is undeniable,' he said.

'But they are cheap to produce, and questions have always been raised about how effective they are in the deeper layers of the skin where real change happens.'