What is Intense Pulsed Light?
Intense Pulsed Light is a patented technology that uses photorejuvenation as a non-invasive treatment for skin problems, birthmarks, age spots, pigmentation problems, and signs of ageing and the removal of unwanted hair, views and other blemishes. The results are younger looking skin, without surgery and without causing painful side effects.
Who is it for?
Intense Pulsed Light treatment is ideal if you are suffering from imperfections caused by sun damage. This also included aging caused by the sun. This technology aids in creating a smoother looking skin and after the few treatments there should be a reduction on over pigmentation. This can be done on the neck, chest, hands and arms.
The technology has been found effective to treat people that have tiny blood vessels and views, which are called capillaries. These capillaries can appear as red blotches on the skin. The Intense Pulsed Light treatment is then used to eliminate these veins, and removing the red blotches they created. That is since the technology treat the dilated blood vessels without causing harm to the healthy skin that surrounds the area.
Besides treating sun-damaged skin, age spots, and spider veins, this technology has been used to treat rosacea and scars.
Overall there should be a marked improvement of the pigmentation caused by the sun damage as well as with the scars. By correcting the uneven pigmentation. This improvement will be seen in the weeks after the treatment. For example with sun spots the spots will first turn darker after treatment, and then gradually shed from the skin after around 7 to 14 days. As with the case of rosacea, the skin will be less red in around 7 days after the treatment. And spider veins will first darken then disappear or be less visible after 10 to 14 days after treatment. In all cases, the skin should also improve its texture and tone.
The areas directly around the eyes are not suitable to be treated with this technology.
What procedure is followed?
On the area that will be treated, cold gel is applied. You will be given dark glasses to wear, which will protect your eyes from the bright light. The hand piece of the technology is then applied to the skin. Each time the device is triggered, whereby concentrated pulses of light are sent to stimulate the immune system thereby naturally improve the skin imperfections. The stimulation action works in that the highly pigmented areas and visible blood vessels are broken down and absorbed by the body. But also the heat stimulates collagen production, which in turns restores volume under the skin. This process aids to reduce the visible appearance of wrinkles and fine lines.
The sensation of the light pulses might feel like a stinging sensation. The operator might apply an anaesthetic cream to numb the area, but this is only if you are highly sensitive to pain. Still, the light that is being sent to the skin is absorbed by the pigment in brown spots and the blood in visible vessels, and converted to heat. The heat dissolves the cells that create the pigment and shrinks the vessels.
This technology has been found safe on most skin types, and can be used on the neck, chest, face, arms and hands. But you should consult with your doctor before doing this procedure.
You will need 4 to 6 treatment sessions. With each session being around 30 min. The range of sessions will be determined by the severity of the problem and the number of conditions that might be treated.
There is no downtime for this procedure. You can do this over lunch break and return to work. There might be some redness and heat coming from the treated areas. But this will only last for an hour or two before it starts to fade away. And if you like, you can apply your make up directly after the treatment.
In this video, you can see how the treatment is done:
What are the risks?
Since the treatment is divided into different sessions, the risks are reduced. But after each session you might feel a sunburn-like sensation, with some swelling. These side effects will fade away in a short time.
Problems
This treatment is more a touch up. If you have sagging skin, or deep wrinkles then this procedure will not give you the results you might be looking for. In such cases, a face lift, brow lift, liposuction or a thigh lift will be more suited.