If you’ve lived an active lifestyle, there’s a good chance you’ve battled with sun damage.
Besides the obvious health concerns (make sure you put on your sunscreen!), some individuals find themselves displeased with certain aesthetic effects — typically hyperpigmentation.
If this describes you, then IPL Lasers, also known as Intense Pulsed Light might be your answer.
What Is the Technology Behind Ipl Lasers?
Essentially, specific wavelengths of light are sent to the skin to destroy unwanted pigments — typically melanin. This is done through the use of bright light, filtered out to get the precise wave lengths needed.
There are a number of advantages to IPL besides just destroying pigmentation. If you suffer from rosacea, for example, this condition, among others, can benefit from IPL.
However, IPL has been most associated with treating pigmentation associated with sun damage.
Is IPL Right for Me?
Given the number of skin treatments available, patients might wonder what advantages IPL has versus other treatments such as microdermabrasion, or even lasers.
It might be easy, for example, to confuse IPL with a laser treatment. However, it should be noted that IPL does not do any major resurfacing of the skin.
Therefore, on one very basic level, IPL will feature no downtime at all — something that cannot be said for laser treatments in general.
In that sense, IPL might better suit the needs of a younger demographic who want to do away with minimal but unwanted pigmentation.
The procedure for IPL takes about twenty minutes. The number of treatment sessions to achieve intended results will vary from patient to patient. Results may not be permanent.
While there is no recovery period for the procedure, but full results may take up to a week to show.
Interested in IPL? If you want to know more, call Integrated Dermatology of Reston to schedule an appointment.
