Want firmer skin? Need to get rid of sun damage and dark spots? Looking for a way to overcome acne scarring, or to get rid of broken blood vessels? Intense Pulsed Light (“IPL”) Therapy is your best bet. As far as I’m concerned, it’s a miracle treatment considering the wide variety of concerns it can address without requiring surgery. In fact, it has virtually no downtime because it’s non-invasive and non-ablative! You can wear make-up the next day. It’s the seasonal treatment that I’m most religious about and can see the biggest improvement in my skin every time. In this post, I’ll explain how it works and share a video of my most recent treatment plus before and after pictures.
In this post, we’ll cover the following topics. Just click these links to skip ahead to these sections:
The Science Behind Intense Pulsed Light Therapy
What To Expect During Treatment (Process & Pain Scale)
Post-Treatment Recovery or “Down Time”
My Own Treatment: Before & After Pictures
How To Choose A Skincare Professional
The Science Behind Intense Pulsed Light Therapy
IPL delivers a pulse (flash) of light into the skin below the epidermis. This light is in the form of many different wavelengths. Wavelengths are colors, so each pulse contains many different colors of light. The different colors of light energy, and the different filters the technician can select help IPL target a range of skin concerns ranging from acne scarring, broken capillaries, rosacea, melanoma and sun damage to skin elasticity, fine lines and enlarged pores. This is what makes IPL different than lasers, which deliver only one wavelength. You may hear IPL treatments referred to as a “photo rejuvenation facial” or “photo facial.” It was first approved by the FDA as a dermatological treatment in 1995, and has continued to advance as new science and technology progresses. One treatment can definitely make a difference. Depending on the severity of the issues you’re targeting, 2 or 3 treatments may be needed.
When treating pigmentation, the pulse of light energy targets skin cells that contain color. When the light reaches the cells, it converts to heat and destroys the targeted cells. The destruction of cells triggers the body’s natural healing process from within, generating new skin cells, collagen and elastin. Over the course of a few days after treatment, the destroyed pigmented cells turn dark, crust over and then flake off (generally the size of tiny flakes of pepper, not large scabs). The collagen and elastin result in firmer skin tone and improved texture.
The process is similar when treating broken capillaries. The light energy is targeted to the broken capillary. The pulse of light temporarily heats the blood supply within the capillary, causing the blood to thicken. The capillary collapses, and the body absorbs it harmlessly.
How To Prepare For Treatment
At your initial consultation, your skincare professional will review your areas of concern and discuss the treatment process and number of treatments that may be required. Because IPL targets pigmented cells, you’ll have to stay out of the sun and / or tanning beds for at least 2 weeks prior to your treatment. You may also be advised to avoid using harsh peels or exfoliants leading up to your appointment in an effort to avoid making your skin hypersensitive.
On the day of treatment, you should arrive at your appointment with clean skin (no lotions or makeup). You’ll likely be escorted to a private treatment room and asked to change into a spa-like robe or wrap (assuming the treatment area is your face, neck and chest). Once you’ve changed and are seated comfortably in a treatment chair, your skincare professional will:
- Clean your skin around the treatment area. Like any treatment, the goal is to avoid any risks of infection so clean skin is a must.
- Apply a cooling gel to your skin. The handheld device gets very hot on the end that comes into contact with your skin to deliver the pulsed light. The cooling gel acts as a protective heat-barrier for your skin. If you’ve ever had an ultrasound, it’s similar to the texture of the gel used for that.
- Place eye covers over your eyelids to protect your eyes from the pulsed light during treatment.
At this point, treatment will usually begin. Your skincare professional uses a handheld device to deliver the pulsed light to your skin. The handheld device is attached via a cord to a larger floor unit. My skincare professional uses the best unit in the business, called the Lumenis M22. Lumenis is considered the inventor of IPL treatment and continues to be the industry-leader for new IPL technology. The machine reminds me of R2D2 from Star Wars, LOL.
Here’s a picture of the M22 and the handheld device:
What To Expect During Treatment & Pain Scale
My procedure took about 35 minutes of actual treatment time (not including changing into / out of the spa-wrap or paying for the services at the end). All in all, it was about an hour session. While each provider may have their own preference for the brand / manufacturer of IPL machines, the overall treatment process is similar regardless of the machine. As for pain, because it’s non-ablative, it’s broadly considered to be a more tolerable procedure than laser resurfacing. Numbing cream isn’t typically needed.
each person has a different pain tolerance level and skin sensitivity so your experience may differ from mine. This is why I recommend finding a skincare professional for all of your skincare needs and getting all treatments at the same practice. Your skincare provider will become accustomed to your skin and your pain tolerance and be able to advise you on what to expect based on their personalized knowledge of YOU. Here is what you can expect the treatment to feel like, based on my own experience…
The Treatment Process
Each provider may have a slightly different routine, so I’ll describe my experience. I’ve been receiving IPL therapy from the same clinic for several years now (shout out to Amanda and her team at Enhanced Beauty & Wellness Clinic). Upon arrival, I’m always shown to a treatment room and asked to change into a spa wrap or robe (when having face, neck and chest areas treated) and a headband is used to keep my hair out of the way if my hair isn’t already pulled out of the way. I recline in a comfortable treatment chair during the entire procedure. The skincare technician will cleanse my face and apply eye covers. Then, a water-based conductive gel is applied liberally to the treatment area. I’m given a squishy stress-ball to hold during treatment. It provides a nice distraction when the treatments zings a little in the more sensitive areas. I usually chat with the technician through the entire procedure – another good distraction technique. If you’d rather wear earbuds and listen to soothing music or a podcast, that’s certainly an option. I recommend doing whatever relaxes you the most.
During treatment, the technician touches the device to your skin and presses a button to trigger the pulse of light. The part of the device that touches your skin is hot to the touch even before the technician presses the pulse button. It feels like a hot light bulb. This is to be expected since it’s delivering “heat energy” in the form of “Intense Pulsed Light.” When the technician presses the button to send the pulse of light, the pulse feels like a rubber band is snapped to your skin and sort of sounds the same way. The technician moves the device to a new area and repeats the process over and over until all areas are treated. The technician will move all around your face, neck and chest – often seemingly in a haphazard manner. This is to give each area of skin a break from the heat. Don’t worry, it’s not as haphazard as it seems. They’re great at keeping up with what has been covered and they’ll ensure all of the treatment area is addressed before they’re done.
Rating The Pain On A Scale Of 0-10
I have a pretty high tolerance for pain. My 0-10 pain scale ranks childbirth / labor without an epidural at a 10. A major broken bone gets scored somewhere between 7 – 9. I rate IPL treatment at a pain level of 1 – 2. There are two sources of pain during this treatment: 1) the “zing” or snap from each time the device is pulsed, and 2) the heat of the device against your skin. Neither of these is a constant pain and the degree of pain depends on where the device is zapping me.
The areas around my nose tend to zing / snap a little more because I have a lot of broken capillaries in that area. The area around my lips also zings – because the skin is thin and very sensitive there. In those areas, I would rate the pain at a 1 – 2 for the “snap effect”. In other areas of my body, I would give it maybe a 0.5 (1/2) point score. The snap is a fraction of a second of annoyance, so by the time my brain has registered it in the sensitive areas, the tech has moved on to areas that hurt less. Some areas don’t even register at all. The heat of the device registers a 1 across most of my skin, but maybe a 2 on my dècollètè. That area typically has the most sun damage – it’s where I always burn if I’m in the sun. The more sun damage, the more concentrated the intensity of the treatment and the more frequently the tech will have to pulse over that area to ensure they get good coverage.
Aside from the tiny bit of pain in a few small areas, I can be a little twitchy because of the anticipation of the snapping, especially near the areas I know hurt a little more. Near the end of treatment when my skin is starting to feel sunburned from the heat of the device, I can get a little impatient for the treatment to be over. f you watch the video of my treatment, you’ll see that by the end my shoulders are a little tense, but for the most part I chat my way through the entire treatment without any signs of distress.
All in all, it barely registers as pain on my scale. It’s really very manageable. Given the results, this treatment is 100% worth the tiny bit of anxiety and a little bit of temporary discomfort, IMHO. You can see in the video of my session there’s never a point at which it’s so painful that I can’t carry a conversation. I just absentmindedly squeeze the squishy stress ball for distraction.
Once all areas have been treated, the technician will carefully remove the cooling gel from your skin with a gentle cleanser. Then they’ll apply a soothing balm to help cool down your skin and moisturize. Once that is done, you can change back into your normal clothes and your treatment session is over. Your skincare professional will review your aftercare instructions, and you’ll be on your merry way.
Watch A Video Of My IPL Treatment
You can see my treatment video below. Please note, the machine does occasionally cause a bright flash in the video. If you are sensitive to flashes, do not watch.
Post Treatment Recovery Or “Down Time”
Immediately after treatment is complete, you’ll feel like you have a pretty intense sunburn on the treated areas and it may be red. I always have to hold the seatbelt out away from my chest on the drive home so it doesn’t rub against the tender skin. I usually go home and put on a v-neck, very soft t-shirt or even a satin PJ shirt – something that isn’t scratchy. I typically feel that intense sunburn for 1 – 2 hours after treatment, then the burn and redness fades away. TIP: Schedule at the end of your work day so you can go straight home and relax and wait for the heat of the sunburn effect to settle down.
For the rest of treatment day and the next 1 – 2 days after, my skin feels a little sensitive like an average sunburn might feel. During that time, I avoid exposing my treated areas directly to the super hot shower water. I’ll also wear non-scratchy clothes until it not longer feels sensitive. You can use a gentle cleanser and moisturizer starting the day after treatment. You should avoid harsh exfoliants while your skin feels sensitive. You’ll need to stay out of the sun while it’s healing (again, like any sunburn or sensitive skin condition). If you don’t do anything to irritate the treatment area, then you won’t have any residual pain.
The treated areas that were pigmented will turn much darker immediately after treatment. Then they will become coarse and flake off over the next week or so. Because they can get really dark before they slough off, some people like to wear makeup to cover them up temporarily. You can begin wearing makeup the day after treatment.
That’s pretty much it. It’s really not a complicated process or recovery. The pain is minimal and goes away fast, making recovery very quick and easy, IMHO. The most complicated part is probably scheduling since it requires time out of the sun before and after, and then scheduling around your own comfort level of having dark spots visible on your skin for a few days. Once the dead cells have flaked off, you’ll be left with supple, evenly toned and firm skin. It’s a wonderful feeling to see the results take shape!
My Treatment: Before / After Pictures
You can see the sun damage on my face and chest in the before pictures. Lots of dark spots, large pores, visible fine lines. My chest area looks “raked” over. In the after picture, my skin is so much more evenly toned, smooth and firm. Pores are smaller, fine lines around my eyes, mouth and neck are harder to see. The raked look is gone from my chest and the skin looks fresh as a baby’s bum. My chest was so sun damaged that it took longer to heal. This was expected, I discussed this with the team at Enhanced Beauty & Wellness before my treatment and went into the treatment eyes wide open in that regard. The face after picture was taken 11 days after treatment. The chest after picture was taken 15 days after treatment.
I mentioned earlier that immediately after treatment, any pigmented areas turn very dark. They’ll stay that way until they slough off. The pictures below were taken the day after my treatment. You can see the age spots and sun spots are much more prominent than my above “before” picture. The picture of my chest area speaks volumes about how much sun damage I had there. Please save the lectures, I have learned my lesson. I will now be much more diligent about wearing stronger sunscreen.
How To Choose A Skincare Professional To Provide IPL Treatment
I only trust the team at Enhanced Beauty & Wellness Clinic for my skincare needs. The owner, Amanda Dayton, is obsessed with leveraging the latest technology to deliver the best results in the safest manner possible. I’ve been going to her for several years. She is always willing to answer my never-ending questions. She and her team are constantly pursuing new certifications and training. Here are my tips for finding a provider and questions to ask:
- Ask your friends and coworkers for recommendations
- Ask your local community via social media
- Once you have a potential list of providers, research them. Client reviews and testimonials are the best measurement of a good provider. Make sure you’re looking at reviews that are on neutral platforms (i.e. not on the providers website directly, as they probably chose to publish only the most glowing reviews).
- Schedule a consultation, during which you can:
- Ask questions about the procedure, risks, costs and recovery time
- Don’t just ask about the one treatment you’re interested in. Explain all of your skincare concerns, and prioritize them for the doctor / nurse. Then ask them to recommend back to you a treatment protocol. You may find they suggest you start with a different treatment first, or at the very least they should provide you with options, pros and cons.
- Meet the staff and ask about their qualifications and experience, including their: medical credentials, experience / certifications with IPL, experience with the technology, which manufacturer / machine they use
- Have a look around to make sure the office is clean, organized and well-managed
- Consider interviewing more than one clinic so you have something to compare
- Once you’ve made up your mind, sleep on it a few more days before making the appointment, just to be absolutely sure you feel good about your choice of provider and treatment plan.
Disclaimer: We hope this post has expanded your knowledge of IPL therapy and equipped you to have an educated conversation with your skincare provider. Please remember that this post is based our own individual experience. We are not medical professionals. Each person should consult with their healthcare / skincare provider to develop a treatment plan that is unique to their health and skincare needs.
Cheers, lovelies!
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