IPL Treatment: What Clinicians Should Know About Treating Sun Damage

As a clinician you will eventually have a client with sun damaged skin. Those sun worshipers who have suffered the ill effects of too much solar exposure visit the offices of dermatologists every year, and many of them will also be visiting spas, and asking for your professional advice as an aesthetician on how to handle their sun problems. One of the effective methods for treating sun damaged skin is IPL, or intense pulsed light treatment. IPL is a fairly new and non-ablative technique, also known as photo rejuvenation.

Intense pulsed light treatment works through delivery of pulses of high intensity broadband light. This is different from laser light which is narrow band. As a non-ablative treatment it does not damage the skin surface. Instead the intense light pulses are delivered deeper into the dermis, leaving the surface area of the skin, the epidermis, untouched. Different versions of IPL that are available on the market target different structures of the skin. The PhotoDerm VL targets vascular lesions including vascular birthmarks and spider veins. The PhotoDerm PL targets pigmentation lesions including age spots and melasma. The PhotoDerm HR and the Epilight target hair for removal. The thermal effect of intense pulsed light also invigorates production of collagen, which leads to improvement in wrinkles.

The advantages of intense pulsed light therapy are that it does not damage the surface of the skin, an improvement over dermabrasion and laser resurfacing both. The recover time needed is so minimal it is almost non-existent. Treatments only take between 30 and 45 minutes, and patients can apply makeup before leaving the clinic and return to work or normal activity the same day. Also pain with IPL is minimal, again unlike both laser and radio frequency resurfacing, which both require topical anesthetic. Additionally, with IPL a larger area can be treated at once with laser treatment.

When using intense pulsed light several treatments may be required to see the effect the client desires. Best results are obtained with four to six treatments, and they should be spaced three weeks apart. There are sight side effects including transient redness and either increased or decreased pigmentation in the treated area. Minimizing exposure to the sun will minimize the side effects however.

As the popularity increases and the benefits become more obvious, more clinicians will look into offering IPL treatments for their clients.