Human skin is so finicky. It’s susceptible to damage from the sun, the environment, personal habits, and the realities of basic aging. We’re always looking for ways to keep our facial skin looking younger, staving off the damage. To that end, we try surgery, varying degrees of dermabrasion, fillers, lasers, even Intense Pulsed Light therapy (IPL).
Of that group, IPL is the least understood. Here’s some information about it and how Dr. Lavey uses it to address various skin conditions and hair removal.
What is Intense Pulse Light?
IPL technology uses a handpiece to deliver high-energy computer-controlled intense, visible, broad-spectrum pulses of light onto the skin in the target areas. Unlike laser light, which is delivered in a single wavelength of light, IPL uses a broad spectrum that is filtered to target different conditions. Like lasers, IPL light energy is converted into heat energy, which destroys certain unwanted cell types.
How we filter for different treatments
At Dr. Lavey’s we use various handpiece filters to regulate the light wavelengths.
- The red handpiece reduces unwanted brown or black hair across the body. For hair removal, a series of four to five treatments is necessary to catch the hairs in the correct phase of the growth cycle where IPL is most effective.
- The green handpiece reduces flushing and spider veins on the face, neck, and décolletage. It also removes brown spots all over the body. When used for these treatments, the treated areas may be red for a few days after treatment. Brown spots become darker for a week or 10 days before peeling off.
- The yellow handpiece removes brown spots and reduces brown or black hair.
Dr. Lavey uses the most current Palomar technology for his IPL treatments because they tend to be more effective, yet safer and more comfortable, than most other IPL systems on the market.
Want to get intense with your skin problems and unwanted hair? Call Dr. Lavey at 925-820-3633 for an appointment.
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