What Is The Difference Between Laser And IPL Hair Removal?（partⅡ）

IPL Or Laser, Which Is Better?

Choosing between IPL and laser treatment is a personal decision. Your skin tone and hair color can affect the results you can achieve with both laser and hair removal, so it is important you understand which is best for you, so you can achieve the outcomes you desire. You should consider your skin and body type and the amount you wish to spend and how quickly you want to see results.

Benefits Of IPL Hair Removal

As broad-spectrum light naturally spreads out, the coverage of IPL hair removal devices is greater than laser hair removal devices. It, therefore, may mean that treatment times may be quicker because larger areas can be treated at once. As well as treatment times being quicker, they may also be considerably cheaper, but you may find that you need more sessions to achieve the same results.

IPL uses a broad spectrum of light, which means it can have different uses. It can be used to treat a variety of different skin conditions very successfully. It can also be altered specifically to match different skin and hair types within a treatment type. For example, a variation of IPL called VPL, which stands for Variable Pulsed Light, has been developed. VPL enables the user to modify the settings of the light pulses to best suit the skin and hair they are aiming to treat. This is because the developers recognize that not only do different skin tones have different requirements for light-based hair removal devices and also that thick, course bikini line hair will require different treatment to thinner arm hair.

Benefits Of Laser Hair Removal

The nature of lasers means that laser hair removal devices can focus light down into the pores of the skin, getting closer to the follicle to treat it and ultimately prevent regrowth. This can mean that laser hair removal can achieve much quicker results than IPL because single hairs are heated to damaging temperatures quicker. Therefore, you may need fewer treatments of laser hair removal to achieve the same results.

Being more specific also means that laser hair removal can be more suited to people who have darker skin. This is because darker skin also absorbs more light than paler skin due to the amount of melanin (pigment) it contains, like darker hairs absorb more light than paler hairs. Therefore, there is a risk that the darker skin can be heated up. The nature of lasers being more focused, smaller areas of light mean that they are more suited to treating people with darker skin because they greatly reduce the risk of burning compared to IPL. Having said that, some IPL systems are still suitable to be used on darker skin.

Using IPL and Laser For The Face

Both laser and IPL hair removal are techniques that are suitable for use on the female face. However, neither should be used on the scalp or eyebrows. They are safe to use below the cheek line for example on the upper lip or chin, but should not be used in proximity to the eyes as the glare of the light may damage your sight. For this reason, it is important to use sufficient eye protection whenever you are using IPL or laser hair removal, even if you are not treating your face. Some at-home kits come with eye protection included, but if they don’t you can get them cheaply. It is also important that you do not look directly into the light source.

IPL And Laser Hair Removal Side Effects

Both IPL and laser hair removal methods have the same side effects. You can expect some skin irritation which may be in the form of redness, swelling, itchiness or feeling tender. However, this is normally short lived and should not last more than a day. Simply treat the skin irritation like you would sunburn and keep it moisturized.

The skin will be more sensitive to sunlight after both methods, so it is important that you use adequate sun protection on the skin both before and after treatment. It is also important that you do not scratch the skin as it may be more delicate and that you keep the skin clean to prevent infection.

How Long Have IPL And Laser Hair Removal Been Around?

The first use of IPL documented in academic literature took place in a study in 1997, where hair loss was found to be a side effect of skin treatment with IPL. This study used an IPL device called Photoderm VL and looked to treat facial port wine stains (birthmarks). Researchers found that the lesions responded well to the first treatment and completely cleared up after the fourth. Soon after this study, the authors published two cases of permanent removal of facial hair. The same author also published an article which successfully used IPL to treat essential telangiectasias (ETE), which is another skin condition. Since then, the technology has vastly improved and resulted in the creation of more powerful and predictable IPL devices.

Laser hair removal, on the other hand, was first developed significantly earlier, in 1960. Initial designs were sadly slow and resulted in burns, but the technology quickly progressed, with the first FDA-cleared laser for hair removal becoming available in 1964.