IPL® (Intense Pulsed Light)

Hyperpigmenation and vascularity can be significantly improved through IPL® light treatment, a revolutionary treatment offered at our San Francisco practice by Dr. Albert Chow.

IPL is a light treatment. Its not quite laser and laser is coherent light, which is of the same wavelength. Unlike lasers, IPL is Intense Pulsed Light and so what happens is the light is intense and it heats up pigment within the skin and it causes it to come away from the skin. It doesn't necessarily burn the skin but it just focuses on those key areas that cause the, you know, bad-looking skin pigments, vascularity which people see as a little blood vessels and capillaries in the face and so when you treat these, the skin looks better, better texture, better color, and so what we do is, we would suggest that patients come in, get it treated and come back every year or six months to get it retreated in order to maintain the results that they get. It’s a very very easy treatment. You don't need painkillers or anything like that. You don't need numbing creams. It is generally done with a cooler that cools the skin, so it is very very tolerable.