IPL Treatment | How will Intense Pulsed Light work for me?

Intense pulsed light treatments are a mainstay for skin rejuvenation and have been for over a decade to keep our patient’s skin looking young and healthy.  In our Torrance, CA office, we have been using Sciton IPL, also called BBL or broadband light, since 2013. IPL Treatment is not a laser, but very powerful light.  It works by targeting specific parts of your skin, creating a small thermal injury that eliminates concerns such as small veins and brown-colored sun damage.  

For example, with sun damage, we use a cutoff filter that changes the light exiting from the machine to that type which is preferentially absorbed by the melanin in your sunspots.  In this way, we can target sun-damaged skin only and remove spots with minimal disruption to your surrounding skin.  After effects for you will include redness, swelling, and crusting and peeling of the sun damage over 5-7 days following the appointment.  

Laser light is a very focused and powerful type of light.  Lasers are so powerful and precise that they can slice one of your hairs in half.  IPL, in contrast, is a much more randomized type of light.  Not better or worse, just different.  With lasers, we have the most powerful tool for each skin condition.  With Intense Pulsed Light, we have a jack of all trades that can treat multiple skin conditions effectively.  In 2013, we purchased our first IPL our Torrance office, Sciton’s BroadBand Light, or BBL.

Over the past decade, we have learned to use IPL for three primary treatments.  It is excellent at getting rid of mottled pigment on the face and neck (brown sun damage).  It is also very good at getting rid of the redness and small blood vessels associated with mild Rosacea or sun damage.  Finally, the ongoing use of IPL to stimulate the production of collagen is a very effective method for keeping your skin looking young and renewed.    Ongoing IPL treatments (every 1-3 months) are proven to renew the DNA of cells creating a more youthful appearance.  

In our practice, we categorize sun damage as brown or red discoloration that makes the skin tone uneven.  But red discoloration and small blood vessels are treated differently than brown discoloration.  And within the area of brown spots/sun damage/discoloration, there are two types.  Our patients have actual spots that show a defined border and are easy to see and they also have general discoloration where one area of the face or body is a slightly different color than another area. 
The first type is often referred to as age spots and the second is called dyschromia or poikiloderma.  Regardless of the name, age spot removal is best suited for our q-switched lasers and general brown discoloration is best treated with Intense Pulsed Light (IPL Treatment).  With the Sciton BBL cutoff filters, we can use only the type of light attracted to brown pigment and target that kind of sun damage only.

Cutoff filters, that’s how IPL  Treatment targets and removes redness and small blood vessels.  These filters are nothing more than a small attachment to the handpiece that only allows a certain part of the light through to your skin.  In doing so, the type of light that filters through is highly absorbed by the red color of the blood vessels.  It heats up the small blood vessels close to the surface of your skin, closing them and returning the color of your skin to a more natural and even tone.

IPL is Intense Pulsed Light.  Because it is a very bright light, it generates a lot of heat during treatment.  Patients feel hot and prickly and this heat stimulates the production of new collagen.  Since we do not generate new collagen (absent an injury) after approximately 35 years of age, having IPL do it for us means your skin will look younger, fresher, and fuller.  In fact, studies by a prominent Northern California physician using the Sciton BBL indicate that consistent (every 1-3 months) treatment changes the DNA of your cells.  Cell structure changes and they appear more like those of a patient 10 or 20 years younger.

At Celibre, we’ve been using IPL in our Torrance office since 2013.  And we’ve been using lasers since the mid-1990s.  There are over 50 years of combined laser experience between our physicians and nurses.  Rest assured that when you are getting treatment from one of our practitioners, that experience is helping you get superior results.  Whether it is brown spots, redness or general skin texture, and pore size, IPL is an excellent option for your anti-aging goals.