subject: Hair Reduction Using Intense Pulsed Light Therapy [print this page] If you have lots of excess hair on your body which proves to be rather embarrassing and time consuming to remove using traditional methods like waxing and shaving, you could consider trying out IPL hair reduction.
This IPL is the acronym for Intense Pulsed Light, and is a treatment dermatologists and estheticians use for the effective removal of excess hair from the body. IPL therapy is conducted under the guidance of a physician and is a rather popular hair reduction option today as it is cheaper and faster than using lasers to remove excess hair.
Choose a licensed practitioner
In fact, if done correctly, the IPL process can give more than satisfactory results. At times, you may have to undergo more than one treatment for effective hair removal using IPL therapy. However this cannot be predicted at first as it is dependent on each individual case.
If you are thinking of using IPL to remove your excess hair, you should first have a consultation appointment with a licensed and recognized practitioner. It is during this consultation that you will be asked a few questions about your personal and family health and medical history to find out if you actually are a great candidate for IPL hair reduction.
Dark skin people are not the best candidates
Those who have dark skin, are sensitive to burns, are prone to keloids and who are darkly tanned are not actually fit for IPL hair reduction. Even diabetics who depend on insulin to control their diabetes should not undergo IPL hair removal as the skin slowly heals after the process and thus can lead to an infection.
After collecting the necessary answers and information, if your practitioner considers you to be a great candidate for IPL hair reduction, then he will perform a patch test on a part of your skin. He will check the skin patch after a few days time to ensure your body does not have any adverse reaction to the treatment.
The actual process
Before the IPL hair removal treatment process starts, your doctor applies some col gel to your skin, and gives you a pair of dark goggles to wear. Once you are ready, your practitioner focuses an intense beam of light on the area to be treated. The duration of the treatment depends on the region treated; a small area takes about 10 minutes while treating the entire face takes 40 minutes.
There may be some redness and irritation after the treatment. However this is nothing to worry about as it typically disappears within 3-4 days time to give you smooth and hair-free skin.
