An IPL Laser treats wrinkles, unwanted hair and spots.
IPL stands for Intense Pulsed Light Therapy and it overall improves your skin’s color as well as texture.
Moreover, it can rid your skin of sun damage known as photoaging that is present on your face, neck, hands and chest.
It uses light energy to target the red, blotchy skin and a certain color of your skin.
This article discusses what this intense pulsed light therapy can do for your skin and should you only get it professionally. Keep reading below to know more!
What Can IPL Laser Treat?
This laser can remove:
- wrinkles
- Freckles
- Birthmarks
- Rosacea
- Unwanted hair on the face, back, underarms, etc
- Sun damage
- Varicose veins
- Broken blood vessels on the face
It uses light energy to heat the skin.
The heat, in return, gets rid of the unwanted cells, treating the condition.
Laser usually sends a single wavelength whereas an IPL sends usually more than one wavelength of pulsating light.
It treats different conditions at the same time.
Plus, the light does not hurt any tissues so you get better quickly.
Your appearance is significantly younger because of the even skin tone.
REPC Dubai is the best laser clinic in Dubai that offers a range of procedures such as laser hair removal, cold laser and fractional laser.
While IPL usually serves purposes similar to that of lasers, it is different in some aspects.
The light that IPL sends is more scattered rather than focused which usually a laser is.
However, this process causes less harm to your skin than a laser.
It simply penetrates the dermis without doing any harm to the epidermis.
IPL targets the pigment cells present in your skin to absorb light energy and convert it into heat energy.
The heat gets rid of the freckles, spots and other pigments.
It works in a similar manner on hair, destroying the hair follicles so that hair grows back slowly or does not at all.
While you can get this on any part of your body, it does have certain limitations.
For instance, it will work well on darker hair than a lighter one.
Though, it will not work the same on uneven areas and is not recommended for people with darker skin tones or those who are susceptible to getting raised keloid scars.
Let’s learn about its procedure below!
IPL Treatment for Pigmentation and More: Before the Procedure
Your dermatologist or beauty therapist will first examine what causes your skin condition and let you know what you should expect from the procedure.
Conditions such as eczema and inflammatory acne can slow down healing, so let them know beforehand if you suffer from any of these.
You can get the treatment if you have liver or age spots, birthmarks, stretch marks, dark spots due to hormonal change, fine wrinkles, discolored skin and many other skin conditions.
However, it is not a good idea for people with these conditions:
- You are pregnant
- Take any medication for some other medical condition
- Suffer from a skin condition
It is not a good idea to get this treatment if you suffer from skin cancer, usually get a keloid scar or suffer from a skin resurfacing disorder.
It is also not ideal for people who are sensitive to light, use a retinoid cream, tan their skin, suffer from severe scarring and have very dark skin.
Avoid using certain medications, perfumes, or makeup that can irritate the skin at the time of the appointment.
Refrain from getting direct sunlight, using wax or getting a dermatological procedure such as chemical peel.
They can irritate the skin right before the procedure and it will become difficult to treat you.
Moreover, collagen injections, creams, serums or other skincare products with ingredients such as Vitamin A, retinol or glycolic acid.
Once your dermatologist looks into your skin condition thoroughly, you can book your appointment and begin your procedure.
IPL Laser Procedure
The beauty therapist begins by cleaning the target area along with that, they rub a cool gel onto that area.
Since, light pulses from IPL generate heat, applying a cool gel helps to keep your skin calm and not burn it.
Next, they apply light pulses from the IPL device to your skin but before that, you will wear glasses to protect your eyes from the light pulses.
Now you may wonder if you will feel any pain? Well, the light pulses do sting.
It is similar to how one feels when snapped with a rubber band.
The treatment usually takes about 20 to 30 minutes however, it can take longer or shorter time depending on what part you are treating.
In order to achieve the desired results, one treatment is not enough.
Rather you will need 3 to 6 treatments for skin, each one month apart. This allows your skin to heal in the meanwhile.
On the other hand, hair removal needs 6 to 12 treatments to see none or negligible hair growth.
Results
Newer IPL devices are effective for treating your skin conditions as much as a laser is.
Especially for fading blood vessels in the skin.
Hence, how well it works depends on what you are treating.
For hair removal, it works best if you have light skin and dark hair. However, it may be totally ineffective on dark skin and blonde hair.
Broken blood vessels cause redness. After three treatments around 50 to 70 percent can be treated.
However, some of these may even go away completely to not return. The treated veins will not return though, new ones can develop.
Plus it treats rosacea too which can cause your face to turn red. IPL can work for that too if you are under 40 and the rosacea redness is between moderate to severe measures.
Plus IPL is also effective in treating acne as well as acne scars. It needs six sessions to see any difference.
Other than that, it also reduces sun damage by up to 70 percent. The brown spots/age spots and redness due to ultraviolet rays decrease significantly.
You will need at least three to six treatments in order to achieve final results but they reduce your condition to a considerable amount.
IPL Laser Side Effects and Risks
As long as you are in the hands of a trained professional, your procedure will go smoothly.
People may suffer from mild redness and swelling right after the procedure ends.
This is temporary and will subside between a day or two.
Though, there can be some unwanted side effects.
Hormonal brown spots can flare-up.
There can be blisters and bruises on the treatment site.
While IPL aims to even out your skin tone, a possible risk can be changed in the skin color as the treatment completes.
There can be scars and bleeding as well.
Your skin or target area can get crusty.
Plus, after every procedure, there is a risk of infection.
Talk to your dentist if you feel you are not feeling well and your symptoms are getting worse.
Though, it may still be an overall safer procedure.
Besides these risks, also keep in mind, that you will need several treatments to achieve results and this procedure does not cost little.
What’s more, it works for hair removal, however, it may still not be super effective on lighter hair and darker skin.
However, it can solve many skin problems.
The treatment sessions are also much faster than any other method for these conditions.
Plus, some side effects may exist, however, they are lesser than dermabrasion and laser because it does not affect the topmost skin layer.
In fact, its recovery is also quicker, let’s find out about that more below!
Recovery
You can resume your daily activities after the treatment and do not need any set downtime.
Your skin will be slightly red and that will last for about 4 to 6 hours.
It will look similar to how a sunburn does.
Applying an ice pack or a cold washcloth can help with the redness.
There will be redness and bruising for a day or two. The brown spots will get darker but they will also peel off on their own. So the swelling and redness also subside on their own.
However, your skin will be slightly sensitive the following days after treatment.
During that time, avoid using hot water till the skin heals.
Also refrain from applying a moisturizing lotion or makeup.
Let your skin breathe and keep your face bare.
Since your skin is sensitive at this point, use a cleanser for sensitive skin and wash it with cool water.
Provide additional protection to your face by applying sunscreen.
Use a sunscreen with SPF 30 and a containing a physical blocker such as zinc.
Keep applying it after every 2 hours even if you are staying indoors.
It can take up to a week for you to return to your normal skincare routine. However, ask your dermatologist when you can apply products to your skin.
You will not immediately see results because it needs several sessions.
So it will take weeks to see visible results.
Finally,
While the recovery of IPL Laser is quick, its results take time to show.
Plus, you will need several sessions to achieve your desired look. That said, it is an effective procedure that can bring up to 70 percent improvement in skin and hair.
