Why Do I Have No Visible Side Effects After 1 IPL?

Usually the first treatment is as much diagnostic as therapeutic, meaning the intent is definitely to treat the skin problems but the settings on the first treatment are more conservative because we don't know how your skin will react.

That said, I don't always see coffee grounds after treatments but there is still a decrease in brown spots when you look with the Visia Complexion Analysis machine. 

In addition, the increased collagen production that we see with IPL treatments usually takes several weeks to become visible.  Give it a little more time.  There should be more changes.  However, it does usually take several treatments to see dramatic differences.

If you do not see much benefit from the IPL treatment, It may be because you have fairly clear skin to begin with or it may be that your treatment was too conservative.  There is also a great variation in types of IPL devices, operator experience and skin types.  All of these factors will contribute to your ultimate response to an IPL treatment.  Even in fairly clear skin, you will see an improvement in the texture and fine wrinkles with IPL.  This change will be fairly subtle.