Photo Rejuvenation

What is Intense Pulsed Light?

In its simplest form, this is a way of saying short flashes of very bright light. Ellipse uses short, safe bursts of light emitted from a flash-lamp to treat specific skin conditions.

The difference between Laser and Intense Pulsed Light

Treatments with laser and with Intense Pulsed Light both work in the same way, choosing wavelengths that are absorbed by the target. But while a laser uses light with one specific wavelength, Intense Pulsed Light uses an entire waveband. The different wavelengths can penetrate the skin to different depths, so using Intense Pulsed Light is like using a group of lasers in a single treatment.

What are the treatment possibilities?

The light that is absorbed by melanin and haemoglobin is absorbed within a few millimetres of the surface of the skin. The skin is made up of three main layers, and only hair, blood vessels and melanin that are located close to the skin surface can be treated. Fortunately, this distance allows the Ellipse IPL system to treat many of the most common and most annoying skin problems:

• Pigmented lesions: brown pigment marks, such as freckles, age spots

• Sun-damaged skin

• Vascular lesions: thread veins, port wine stains

• Acne

• Removal of excess hair on any part of the body

Before and after two treatments. Courtesy of Ellipse.