When should I see a difference with IPL and rosacea?

Question

I had my first IPL treatment around 2 weeks ago. I have rosacea with pink/red base redness on cheeks and nose with broken capillaries on/around nose making the sides of my nose look bruised. I flush now and again but not too much. Over the last week I have flushed a bit more than usual. When will I see a difference with IPL? i would especially like the capillaries and some of the base redness to go. This is really getting me down thinking it won't work.

Raffy Karamanoukian, MD, FACS · Answer

You should see improvements in rosacea within one to two treatments.  Rosacea is an ongoing problem and can be improved with IPL, skin care, and pulsed dye laser. Best, Dr. Karamanoukian Los Angeles

James Bonaparte, MD, MSc, FRCSC · Answer

Like you notice, IPL can cause a bit more redness early on, but things should improve. I recently wrote an article going over this in detail and you may find it helpful. One thing to remember, is that everytime you get a treatment, the effect gets better. Check out the article if you are interested.James P. Bonaparte, MD, MSc, FRCSCJB Cosmetics and Facial Surgery Center of OttawaHead and Neck Surgerypracticing in Facial Plastic and Reconstructive SurgeryAssistant Professor, University of OttawaOttawa, Ontario, Canada

Michael H. Swann, MD · Answer

If you are very light skinned, you can see improvements with facial redness and capillaries, but it usually will require multiple treatments.  The KTP 532nm laser and also the Pulsed-Dye 585/595nm lasers target redness much more selectively, giving the treating provider a bigger therapeutic window to treat without damaging the skin.  IPL is really just a bright & filtered light (intense pulsed light).  It isn't a laser at all.  It attempts to mimic laser applications by filtering out some wavelengths of light using color filters, but the light spectrum hitting the skin is still quite broad.  I like IPL for light skinned patients when targeting brown spots on the face, but I never use it for redness.  Most places have IPL because it works for a variety of different targets, but doesn't really work very well for any one in particular.  Sort of a "jack of all trades, master of none".  Many spas and offices use IPL because the investment is much lower than using lasers.

When should I see a difference with IPL and rosacea?

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When should I see a difference with IPL and rosacea?

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Everything you need to know about IPL

Our mission is to create a world where every investment in modern beauty is Worth It.