Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) therapy was first introduced in the early 1990s, and has become a popular non-invasive way to treat rosacea and facial redness. However, it’s not guaranteed to work in all situations. This blog explores the use of IPL, its strengths, and its limitations.
How Does IPL Work to Target Rosacea and Redness
The broad-spectrum light pulses used by IPL are able to target the hemoglobin that is located within surface blood vessels and pigmented skin areas. The intense light energy heats the targeted area, causing fine blood vessels to collapse. The resulting reduction in blood flow in treated areas contributes to reduced inflammation, and skin tone improves as surface blood vessels reduce in size and number.
How Fast Does IPL Show Results?
Depending on the actual cause and degree of facial rosacea, IPL can result in an over 50% reduction in visible redness after 3 to 5 treatment sessions.
IPL treatments are typically repeated after 4 to 6 weeks, and it’s common for the results to last several months. To obtain the best results, carefully follow your provider’s after-treatment instructions. These may include applying specific skin care products, and will normally also involve reducing or eliminating excess sun exposure.
When May IPL not Give the Desired Results?
IPL is not a universal solution for rosacea; its effectiveness may be limited in the following situations:
- Rosacea Subtype: IPL is less effective when rosacea is not directly caused by surface blood vessels, but is due to thickened skin and linked to glandular causes.
- Skin type: IPL works best when there’s a large contrast between the patient’s natural skin color, and the areas being treated. Patients with naturally darker skin run a greater risk of developing burns or hyperpigmentation, caused by the greater levels of natural melatonin in their skin.
- Severity of the condition: Patients with especially severe or long-established rosacea should expect to have to undergo more treatments before achieving desired results.
- Environmental factors: it’s common for rosacea symptoms to be linked to underlying causes, such as stress, diet (especially spicy food and alcohol), and sun exposure. If the patient is unwilling or unable to limit their exposure to these irritants, they may not achieve the desired results.
Alternative Treatments
In cases when IPL does not produce the results expected, you should be ready to consider alternative treatments, including pulsed laser treatments, topical medications, and reducing your exposure to environmental triggers.
Your Laser Skin Care
Your Laser Skin Care practitioners are medically qualified, with extensive experience performing IPL procedures. We tailor all treatments according to each patient’s needs. We invite you to contact us for more information on this or any of the other non-invasive cosmetic procedures we offer. We can help you choose the safest, most effective, and most cost-effective way to achieve your cosmetic goals. Call us at (323) 525-1516 to schedule a free consultation, or visit us online for more information.
