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Benefits and risks of treatment with IPL (Intense Pulsed Light)
The benefits of IPL (Intense Pulsed Light) for patients who are suitable for treatment can be clearly seen. Most of the hair follicles can be permanently destroyed although, in the majority of people, some of the hair follicles escape destruction either by having very light or narrow hairs, or the follicles not being in the reproductive phase when being treated. As such, IPL (Intense Pulsed Light) is a permanent hair reduction but not permanent hair removal.
Once you have had successful treatment with IPL (Intense Pulsed Light), you should not need to use any of the other hair removal techniques in the treated areas, although very occasionally a stray hair may need to be removed. Although IPL (Intense Pulsed Light) is not cheap, compared to the costs of continued hair removal as well as the inconvenience and discomfort, it is not many months or years before there is a financial benefit to having had the IPL (Intense Pulsed Light) hair removal.
As with all treatments that are effective, there are risks from IPL (Intense Pulsed Light).
Some people have very sensitive skin that can burn. This burn can cause blistering and, in some cases, can even cause a brown discolouration called pigmentation. It is for this reason that, before a treatment is performed, a full consultation is booked with one of our therapists at Bella Vou and a patch test is performed. This patch test is a single area that is treated with IPL (Intense Pulsed Light) in a part of the skin that is not easily visible. This patch is then left for a few days to check that there is no adverse event. Provided the skin settles down, which it usually does, it is normally safe to proceed with full IPL (Intense Pulsed Light) treatment at the next session.
Although very uncommon, it is possible to cause skin burns. IPL (Intense Pulsed Light) is not usually regarded as painful but some people have lower pain thresholds than others. In addition, there are other factors that can make one person feel more pain at one time than another. Such factors that have been shown to be effective are feeling low or under the weather, or treatments in women during the time of their period. In these times, the same treatment can feel much more painful to the client.
Rarely also, if a pigmented skin is treated, the light energy can be absorbed by the pigment in the skin and this can result in depigmentation of the area causing a lightening in the treatment patch.
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