Photodamage, or the cumulative effects of long-term exposure to harmful ultraviolet (UV) light rays, is the main culprit behind some of the most common cosmetic complaints, including:
- Uneven skin tone; hyperpigmentation
- Facial spider veins (broken capillaries)
- Noticeable pigmented spots (age spots)
- Fine lines around the eyes and mouth
- Crepey, leathery, or saggy skin texture
Luckily, our skilled team at Daphne Panagotacos, M.D., Inc. in Westlake Village, California, can reverse photodamage and correct the visible signs of premature skin aging with intense pulsed light therapy, otherwise known as an IPL photofacial.
Here, we explore how an IPL treatment works and discuss five skin problems it can improve.
Intense pulsed light: A different type of laser therapy
IPL is a laser treatment that uses multiple wavelengths of light energy to minimize common signs of aging, correct unwanted skin pigment changes, and erase visible facial veins. At Daphne Panagotacos, M.D., Inc., our team performs IPL photofacials with the Palomar Icon™ platform by Cynosure®, the best IPL laser in its class.
While other laser skin treatments use just one wavelength of light to target a specific skin concern, IPL therapy releases light of many different wavelengths, much like a photo flash.
In other words, the light emitted from an IPL device is more scattered and diffuse than the focused light beams emitted from other skin-treating laser devices. This means that IPL energy can permeate down into the second layer of your skin (dermis) without damaging your outer layer of skin (epidermis).
5 skin issues you can address with an IPL photofacial
When IPL energy filters through your deep dermal layers, it triggers many therapeutic effects that lead to significant aesthetic improvements on the surface of your skin. We can use IPL photofacials to minimize or correct a wide range of common skin issues, including:
1. Hyperpigmentation
When you want to target unwanted dark spots or other areas of hyperpigmentation caused by sun damage, nothing beats an IPL photofacial. When pigmented cells in your dermis absorb the painless IPL energy, it heats them and causes them to break apart.
As your lymphatic system absorbs and removes these shattered pigment particles from your body, your dark spots clear away, and your skin tone becomes more uniform.
2. Fine lines and wrinkles
The IPL energy that permeates your deep dermal layer can improve another common sign of sun damage and subsequent premature skin aging: fine lines and wrinkles. By stimulating powerful and enduring collagen growth and elastin renewal, IPL photofacials help restore the building blocks of firm, youthful-looking skin, leaving you with a tighter, smoother complexion.
3. Acne scar discoloration
If you lived with chronic acne breakouts in the past, your complexion might harbor reminders to this day. Skin discoloration is a common side effect of the acne healing process; it occurs when the skin around an acne lesion darkens into a discolored spot and stays that way even after the pimple has healed.
IPL photofacial treatments can correct acne scar discoloration in the same way they address the discoloration induced by sun damage — by heating the pigmented cells until they break apart and fade away. At the same time, the scattered IPL energy triggers the collagen and elastin renewal processes to help smooth out shallow pitted acne scars.
4. Rosacea facial veins
IPL photofacials are one of the most effective ways to treat mild rosacea, an inflammatory skin condition that causes flushed cheeks, breakouts of small, pimple-like bumps, and facial spider veins — visibly broken blood vessels on the surface of your skin.
To erase facial veins and improve the appearance of rosacea, IPL energy heats the broken vessels from the inside out, causing them to swell shut and collapse. As your body absorbs the collapsed vessels, you see increasingly clearer skin and a more uniform complexion.
5. Unwanted birthmarks
IPL can also help minimize or correct flat, pigmented birthmarks, such as café au lait spots, and vascular birthmarks, such as port wine stains.
As with other types of skin discoloration, IPL energy heats and breaks apart the melanin deposits that make up a pigmented birthmark, causing it to gradually fade from view. To treat a vascular birthmark, an IPL photofacial heats and collapses the vessels that supply the birthmark, leading to its near-complete disappearance.
Find out how an IPL photofacial can benefit your skin
Whether you’re looking to correct pigmentation problems, smooth out fine lines and wrinkles, minimize acne scars, erase facial veins, even out your skin tone, brighten your complexion, or all the above, IPL photofacial treatments can do the job.
To discover how a series of IPL photofacials can help your skin, call us at 805-379-3376 and schedule a visit at Daphne Panagotacos, M.D., Inc. in Westlake Village, California, today.
