I am a light skinned Asian woman with melasma. Would 3 treatments of Joule BBL be an effective and safe procedure?

IPL and BBL are appropriate in a small subset of cases, especially when combined with light chemical peels and Melarase creams in darker skin types. Best, Dr. Karamanoukian Los Angeles

There are some patients who will worsen with BBL treatment. If it is done you must pretreat with hydroquinone for 2 weeks to lessen the chance of hyperpigmentation. Plus, the energy used will need to be lower to be on the safe side. The other things people usually try first are topical creams with hydroquinone and tretinoin (sometimes TriLuma is a brand name people use or compounded at the pharmacy).  If this is not effective we usually do a series of chemical peels or the Melanage peel. I have seen great results with Melanage or Melanage mini. Finally, Fraxel laser or micro needling are other options. Usually I would recommend these prior to BBL. 

Be careful with IPL, though reported, and successful in the minority of cases, there are many more treatments that are safer and more effective. Melasma is a complicated condition to treat, and you should be on bleaching creams before any laser- IPL treatments. Discuss with your Dermatologist treatment options for melasma. RegardsDr Davin LimLaser Dermatologist