Home

Intense Pulsed Light

Intense Pulsed Light(IPL) is a treatment in which the skin is exposed to a series of very intense computer controlled flashes of light. This light has very useful therapeutic effects on the skin.

Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) is somewhat different from a laser. An intense pulsed light device is a computer generated system, which emits pulses of broad spectrum of light wavelengths, from 550 to 1300 nm, whereas a laser emits only a single very intense wavelength of light. In IPL special cut-off filters are used to block out wavelengths of light below the filter number selected and allow only those wavelengths of light above the filter number to pass through. This makes the IPL system more versatile than a laser.

Once light is absorbed by a chromophore(area which absorbs the light), heat is released. It is the release of heat by the absorption of light, around and within the microenvironment of the target chromophore, that results in damage to the target and its disappearance. The heat causes inflammation and injury to the pigmented lesion, blood vessel or hair follicle resulting in slow elimination of the injured lesion by the macrophages(inflammation fighting cells) of the immune system.

By incorporating the higher wavelengths with this system you can now treat darker skin types and wrinkles, as well as treat leg veins. When using the higher filters you will see improvement in the wrinkles, pore size and skin texture. The long wavelengths create a subclinical dermal inflammation that stimulates the conversion of a fibroblast into a fibrocyte. Overtime, the activated fibrocyte then produces new collagen. At the same time, existing collagen will shorten. The new collagen is organized into tight fibrils. Accumulation of new dermal collagen over the course of several treatments results in a thickening of the dermis and an apparent softening of the wrinkle, textural irregularity or pore size.

The light is absorbed by pigmented areas of the skin such as blood vessels, hair, and sun spots which produces heat which destroys these areas. Thus the IPL device is useful for hair removal and reduction, blood vessel removal, and skin rejuvenation.

Phone: 803-732-2554

Fax: 803-753-9257

Email: drandersonmd@earthlink.net