Dr. Sonny O and his team have been using intense pulsed light to help women restore that youthful look to their skin for a number of years. Intense pulsed light or IPL is typically used to help reduce redness, brown spots, broken blood vessels, rosacea, and age spots from the skin. IPL makes use of a device designed to use a wide range of light wavelengths to help reduce these effects on the face, hands, chest, and neck. It is considered to be an ultra-safe non-invasive form of treatment that can be customized to each patient’s needs.

Is Intense Pulsed Light Painful?

One of the first questions most of our patients ask regarding IPL is whether or not the treatment is painful. During the treatment process, you will feel a certain amount of stinging similar to being snapped with a rubber band. To help ease this pain we may give you an anesthetic cream to apply to the area to be treated approximately 30 to 60 minutes before your treatment is to begin.

How Is Intense Pulsed Light Treatment Performed?

Before treatment, the area to be treated will be thoroughly cleaned and a cool gel is applied. You will be given a pair of dark glasses to wear. These are designed to protect your eyes from the light. Once you are comfortable the IPL hand piece will be applied to the area to be treated and the light pulses will be turned on. The treatment process will take approximately 20 to 30 minutes depending on the area to be treated. The number of treatments required will vary based on the area to be treated and the severity of the problem. Typically, it will take 3 to 6 treatments with one month between each.

After the IPL Treatment

Most of our patients experience a redness in the treated areas for a few days and in some instances, some pinpoint bruising. If you are treating brown spots, they may actually become darker at first before the skin begins to pull off. While we would all like to think we can stop the aging process, most of our patients come back to us once or twice each year for a maintenance treatment.