Is IPL Treatment Painful?

IPL (intense pulsed light) or photofacial laser treatment can be painful depending on the type of laser machine that your doctor has. Discomfort can be minimized with numbing cream followed by Saran wrap to be applied 45-60 minutes prior to IPL treatment.

Thank you for your question! Some people may feel slight discomfort depending on pain tolerance.  It is usually referred to as feeling like hot grease splatter.  Some patients feel as though it does not hurt at all and others believe it can be uncomfortable. The treatment is very quick and you do not feel any pain when the treatment is over, your skin may just feel warm like a mild sunburn. 

With every burst of energy delivered by the IPL device, you may feel something like a rubber band snapping against your skin. This may be painful depending on your sensitivity level. Numbing cream may be applied beforehand to reduce discomfort.

Treatment with IPL feels like a cool rubber band snap.  Some patients are able to tolerate this well, but for those that find it painful, topical numbing cream can be used that can make the procedure completely painless.  

Often times patients describe IPL treatment as a hot rubber-band snap to the skin.  In our office, we use topical numbing cream prior to the IPL treatment.  This along with gel and cool blown air are very helpful in decreasing the discomfort associated with the treatment. 

The IPL treatment should not hurt. In our practice, using the Zimmer air cooler in addition to the optional use of numbing cream can make IPL a very comfortable treatment. Some IPL’s are archaic, but the ones from Cutera, Lumenis, Syneron, and Palomar have proven to be effective. That being said, there needs to be a skilled operator.

In our medi-spa the IPL treatments are nearly pain free.  Of course to achieve this we have to properly select treatment parameter on the device and even more importantly pre-treat the skin with a numbing cream.  Not all numbing creams are the same, also it is quite important to prepare the skin and apply the numbing cream properly to achieve the comfort lever we strive for.

Since the invention of the IPL over 18 years ago, over 20 different companies make a similar machine and they are all called IPL. The best is the Lumenis One. This IPL is from the company that invented the IPL and has technology that no other company has. It is the most effective and least painful IPL in the world. It works with just 1 or 2 treatments and a "package" of 5 or more treatments is not necessary, so you save money, time and pain.

We've heard and answered this question many times with our new patients. While the industry standard answer is that it feels like a rubber band snapping on the face, we like Dr. Hedden's description a bit better. Hot grease splatter is a pretty accurate description. Variations in the pain level can be attributed to the individual pain tolerance, gender (men are bigger babies), condition being treated, device being used and the treatment settings.

Yes, IPL can be uncomfortable at the time of treatment. Some people attribute it to hot grease popping out on you. IPL has been described to feel like a bad sunburn after the initital treatment.Redness and irritation usually last only a couple of hours with the help of topical hydrocortisone1% applied immediately after. Chemical peel at a light percentage can also treat pigmented areas.