What is IPL Laser Therapy? Doctor Answers, Tips
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What is IPL Laser Therapy?

What do the letters mean, and what can IPL do for skin improvement?

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24 Doctor Answers | Asked by anon
+5

Meaning of IPL

IPL stands for Intense Pulsed Light. It basically lets you know that this is light based treatments and not a true laser. One of the best IPL's on the market is the Sciton BBL as it has one of the broadest ranges of light and most power to achieve great results in less treatments. The IPL is great for redness and brown spots, does very little for wrinkles, but can be used to tighten the skin if the device has a filter for this and has the power to go into the infrared spectrum. Although... more
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The primary goal of IPL (Intense Pulsed Light) is to...

The primary goal of IPL (Intense Pulsed Light) is to make the skin tone or color more even. One of the signs of aging is irregular brown and sometimes red discoloration of the skin. These changes (called dyschromias) are due to sun damage, and are the usual reason women begin to wear foundation type makeup. The light energy in IPL is absorbed by the colors that we don't like, causing the generation of heat that damages or destroys the structure that holds the color - the sun spot or dilated... more
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IPL, or intense pulse light, is a technology similar to...

IPL, or intense pulse light, is a technology similar to laser. Instead of a single wavelength of light as with a laser, IPL uses a bright light in front of which filters are placed which filter out most wavelengths except those taken up by pigment and blood vessels, depending on the filter used. The light energy penetrates just below the skin's surface, damaging either the melanin (skin pigment) or blood vessels. The body's natural skin repair mechanisms then remove the damaged tissue and... more

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+4

IPL is an acronym for Intense Pulsed Light. Using...

IPL is an acronym for Intense Pulsed Light. Using specific light filters, the energy of the intense pulsed light can be focused on a specific target within the skin. Although IPL is not exactly a laser, it can be used in a similar manner to lasers for safe and effective treatment of unwanted hair, skin pigmentation, and visible and broken capillaries and veins in the skin. IPL treatments can rejuvenate aging skin, help patients with rosacea, and can also treat certain types of skin... more
+3

IPL stands for Intense Pulsed Light, otherwise known as Photofacial Laser

IPL stands for Intense Pulsed Light, otherwise known as Photofacial Laser. IPL involves minimal downtime and can be quite effective in reducing redness and pigmentation over a series of 3-5 treatments. Ethnic skin with pre-existing pigmentation problem should exhaust other modalities such as bleaching cream and/or microdermabrasion prior to IPL for there may be a risk of worsening pigmentation.
+3

IPL is a Multitasker

IPL is not a laser because it does not use a single wavelength of light as do conventional lasers. The range of light is typically between 500-1500 nm, depending on the machine and filter used. Lasers examples include the CO2 laser for resurfacing, which uses a wavelength of 10,600 nm, the Pulse Dye laser uses a wavelength of 585 nm for vascular lesions. A second dissimilarity to a laser is that IPL light is not collumated, it is scattered. The IPL is a multitasker, addressing a number... more
+3

Intense Pulse Light

Intense Pulse Light or ipl is a type of light treatment where light is concentrated in certain wavelengths to improve the way the skin appears. As you age you accummulate dark spots and red spots and this can detract away from the appearance of your face. IPL is a great way of reducing the appearance of these spots without a lot of downtime. It does this by concentrating light which is preferentially absorbed by dark and red spots and avoiding damaging the top layers of the skin. It is... more
+3

I don't use IPL lasers because the improvement achieved...

I don't use IPL lasers because the improvement achieved is - to put it kindly - extremely subtle.
+2

IPL: what is it?

IPL simply stands for "intense pulsed light". While not technically a "laser", IPL devices produce a very powerful and quick flash of light that can be absorbed by skin that has unwanted superficial vessels or pigmented lesions in the brown spectrum of colors. Since these colors absorb the energy of the IPL light, they may be diminished over time and several treatments. Sometimes unwanted pigmented hair can be reduce as well. One of the most gratified groups of... more
+2

Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) Treatment

Thank you for your question. Intense pulsed light (IPL) treatment, also known as a Photofacial, is used to decrease the appearance of sun spots and redness and can also be used for hair removal. IPL is multi-wavelength, scattered light that is generated from Xenon flash lamps and is not actually a laser, although it is frequently mistaken for one. Number of treatments required to achieve desired results and length of results varies from individual to individual and can be... more
+2

"IPL Laser" therapy

IPL is an abbreviation for intense pulsed light.  The IPL is regular light (imagine a powerful flashbulb in a camera) which is filtered to provide the right wavelengths for the treatment.  IPL is not a laser, even though lasers can be "pulsed" and can be "intense".  Laser light has special properties.  Here are some differences: Lasers have light of a single frequency (color), IPL has many frequencies mixed together.  Laser light remains... more
+2

IPL = BBL but does NOT = laser.

IPL means "intense pulsed light". This is the same thing as the newer term BBL  ("broadband light"). This technology does not deliver "true laser" light, since the light waves are not collimated (do not line up exactly in a straight line) as a laser beam is. Laser delivers a collimated beam of light in a single wavelength. This beam is more effective than IPL, but only at the single wavelength, and therefore a narrow range of target type (only... more
+2

Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) = BroadBand Light (BBL)

Pulses of intense light are fired at the skin through varying filters. Depending on what we are trying to achieve, various targets preferentially absorb, are heated and are selectively destroyed by certain light wavelengths (SELECTIVE PHOTOTHERMOLYSIS) without damaging surrounding tissues. In this way, ACNE can be corrected, small blood vessels and flushing such as flushing can be rid of and sun spots and other pigmentation as well as hair removed. Dr. P. Aldea
+2

IPL means intense pulsed light and is different from conventional lasers

IPL or intense pulsed light treatments is effective for improving facial telangectasia (broken blood vessels) and diffuse brown spots especially on the face and neck and to a lesser extent on the hands and lower extremities with caution. It is also useful for hair removal in fair skinned individuals. The main difference between IPL treatments and laser treatments is a broader frequency which results in greater absorption of pigment in hair follicles and blood vessels depending on the... more
+2

IPL

IPL stands for intense pulsed light. These systems are great to treat ruddy complexions, sun spots, perform hair removal, and to ia small extent improve fine lines and wrinkles.  But its main treatment modalities are for the first 3.
+2

IPL Intense Pulsed Light Therapy Can Help to Diminish Discolored Skin, Veins and Unwanted Hair

Intense Pulsed Light combines light and heat energies to significantly improve complexion flaws and also to remove unwanted hair. Pulses of these combined energies are applied to the skin by a hand-piece, delivering treatment at different depths within the skin with minimal discomfort and recovery time or restrictions. IPL is performed to: * Remove unwanted hair long-term * Improve skin firmness, tone & texture * Fade dark spots & visible sun damage *... more
+2

The best candidates for IPL are those patients with...

The best candidates for IPL are those patients with unwanted red and brown colors in their skin. IPLs do not tighten skin at all.
+1

What is IPL Laser Therapy

IPL stands for Intense Pulsed Light and is not a LASER. It is used to treat red spots and brown spots on the skin which are caused by sun exposure. It is also useful to treat Rosacea as well as causing tightening of the skin.
+1

IPL Laser Therapy

IPL treatments (FotoFacial and Prolite) are non-invasive light based therapies that combine Intensed Pulsed Optical and Radiofrequency Energy treatments that erase skin damage without disrupting the skin surface and subsequently require no downtime. IPL, or Intense Pulsed Light treatments improve skin texture and irregular pigmentation of the face, neck, hands, arms, chest and back, and are often used to soften the texture and color of recent surgical scars. Specifically, pigmented lesions... more
+1

Intense Pulse Light is used for improvement of brown spots and redness

IPL stands for Intense Pulse Light. It is not a laser, but a light-based device that uses filters to isolate specific wavelengths of light that can help to improve unwanted brown spots and redness as well as perform hair reduction. It is basically used to even out complexion and improve the look of sun damaged skin -- typically known as "photofacial." It can also be used in combination with photosensitzers such as Levulan (amino levulinic acid) to improve acne and given an... more
+1

IPL is not a laser

IPL stands for "Intense Pulsed Light". The are not lasers. Without getting into too much laser physics, lasers use one specific type of light and IPL devices use many. For this reason, IPL machines are marketed to be able to do a bit of everything, sun spots, facial redness, wrinkles and collagen stimulation. While it is true that an IPL is capable of treating all these conditions, we prefer lasers instead because the single wavelength of light used by lasers means they are more... more
+1

IPL Treatments and what they can do

We use the Fotofacial-RF as our IPL treatment. IPL stands for Intense Pulse Light. IPL-RF is Intense Pulse Light with Radio Frequency. I have found that this gives a far superior result than the stand alone IPL treatments. We have had many patients who have been elsewhere and were treated with just IPL, and then came to us and had the IPL-RF, and were very pleased with the difference. We use this treatment for patients who have telangiectasia (broken blood vessels), flushing, or just... more
+1

Intense Pulse Light (IPL)

IPL stands for Intense Pulse Light. It is a treatment that is designed to pull unwanted pigment such as sun damage out of the skin. It also does very well with vascular conditions of the skin. The light treatment identifies the pigmentation or vascular lessions as unwanted color on the skins surface. The light is attracted to these areas and pulls the color to the surface. Immediately following the procedure the skin may look much worse. You will look like you suffered from a... more
+1

IPL treatments target colors that don't match your...

IPL treatments target colors that don’t match your natural skin tone and “zap away” extra pigment.
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