Can You Use IPL Every Week?
By Gr0 Core Team
You’ve probably heard of IPL at your dermatologist’s office, but you might have questions regarding exactly how to use it or how frequently. Luckily, we have answers to any and all of your IPL related questions and what it can do for your unwanted body hair, facial hair, and more.
IPL is popular for a variety of reasons. For one, it has a multitude of uses, which makes it an extremely practical option for those who are looking to treat more than one skincare concern at a time, including topical skin concerns and hair reduction. It’s important to know how to properly use it to get the most out of your IPL treatments, however. One important part of this is knowing how often to use it.
What is IPL?
IPL is short for Intense Pulsed Light. This is a type of light therapy, and it’s commonly used to treat a variety of skin conditions. Some of the reasons that people opt to get IPL therapy include to remove or reduce the appearance of any of these:
- Unwanted freckles
- Age spots
- Varicose veins
- Visible damage from sun exposure
- Birthmarks
- Broken blood vessels on the face
- Rosacea
- Unwanted hair on your face, chest, back, legs, bikini line, or underarms
Ultimately, there’s a benefit to completing IPL therapy for nearly everyone. It’s important to note that this is not the same as laser treatment. Because IPL releases light of different wavelengths, it’s unlike laser therapy, which only releases one wavelength of light.
In addition to this, the IPL light is less hyper-focused like the laser hair removal usually is. This allows for IPL to penetrate all the way down to the second layer of the skin, which means it doesn’t harm the top layer, and ultimately causes less damage to the skin.
It works because pigment cells in the skin soak up the light energy. That ultimately gets converted into heat, which destroys the unwanted pigment, clearing up freckles or other impurities. This is the same way it works to prevent a hair follicle from growing. The best part is that if you get IPL enough times, you won't have to worry about hair regrowth—you'll basically be hair-free for life.
IPL Treatment Options
If you’re seeking IPL hair removal treatment, there are several different options. It’s important to learn about what’s out there before you make your final decision.
The first option is to get IPL at your dermatologist’s office. This usually involves a string of IPL sessions, as an IPL treatment is typically something that you often will want to complete more than once.
Of course, the cost will vary based on your location, the condition that you’re treating with IPL, and the size and location of the treatment area. Typically, IPL ranges between $700 and $1200. Because of the fact it’s a cosmetic procedure, health insurance doesn’t usually pick up the cost. Therefore, if you want to see the benefits of IPL and go down the dermatologist route, you’ll have to pay out of pocket.
If you don’t feel like spending an exorbitant amount of money on IPL treatment and would prefer to complete treatment from the comfort of your own home on your own accord, there are home device options! Luckily, KENZZI has an IPL Hair Removal Handset, which will allow you to experience a salon-level IPL treatment without leaving your house.
How to Properly Prepare for an IPL Treatment
If you’re going to complete an IPL treatment at home, it’s important to know exactly how to properly prepare for it so you soak up the full host of benefits. First off, IPL tends to work best for people with dark hair but a lighter skin tone, because the contrast in pigmentation and melanin allows the device to target hair better. If you have dark skin, unfortunately, you may have trouble getting the results that you're looking for. Directly before you complete IPL treatments, you should avoid several things to give your skin the best chance for properly absorbing the treatment and subsequently healing.
You should avoid:
- Tanning beds
- Direct sunlight
- Waxing
- Chemical peels
- Collagen injections
- Any kind of that drug that may increase your risk of bleeding
- Skincare products that include vitamin A
If you have any questions regarding what’s suitable or not in preparation for your IPL treatment, you can always ask your dermatologist to get their opinion.
How Often Should I Use IPL?
IPL hair removal devices are an awesome method to reduce the appearance of several skin issues. It’s important to note that to likely get the results you want to see, you’re going to have to complete several treatments. This is one reason that the at-home set is convenient; you don’t have to deal with setting up multiple appointments or paying multiple expensive bills.
Most people will begin to see the impact of their treatments after just three or four times, but the full extent of the impact of treatments will be able to be seen after 12 sessions.
After the initial first few weeks that you use KENZZI, you’ll likely notice that your hair growth is starting to slow - if that’s what you’re using it for. We designed KENZZI so that you’ll start seeing results in the first 3-4 weeks. If you’re using KENZZI for a particular event or season - such as in preparation for the summer - you should be sure to get started early enough.
While there’s a lot of discussion regarding how often you should use IPL, the best answer is that it’s highly dependent upon your body and what you’re looking to treat. For the best answer, you should ask your dermatologist, who is familiar with your particular skin, how frequently they’d recommend you completing IPL treatments. That being said, you can complete IPL weekly for the first few weeks until you eventually only need it for touchups.
Skin cells “turn over” every 30 days or so; therefore, the best thing to do is to wait that long between sessions once you’ve gotten through that initial stage to make sure that you’re using it properly.
Safety and Side Effects
There are some side effects that you might possibly notice following an IPL machine procedure. Luckily, these are not typically long-lasting and usually fade within a day or so. There’s potential that following your IPL treatment, you will experience one or more of these side effects:
- Bruising
- Blistering
- Infection
- Skin color changing
If you properly follow the steps to take care of your skin before IPL and also after, you can reduce your risk of having these side effects pop up. If at any time you’re concerned that a side effect is abnormal, reach out to your doctor to get confirmation that you don’t need to be seen for treatment.
After treatment, you should be able to resume all of your normal activities. That being said, it’s completely normal if your skin feels slightly red or sensitive for several hours following. It might feel as if you got a sunburn, so don’t panic! This could persist a few days after the procedure is complete. You should also stay out of hot water to give your skin time to heal.
While you might want to avoid these side effects, it’s important to note that IPL alternatives could potentially be dangerous.
Why It’s Important
IPL at-home treatment is a great option for a whole variety of reasons. For one, your skin is your body’s largest organ - and the first thing you notice about yourself when you look in the mirror. Taking time to invest in upkeep is important because you should feel confident and ready to take on the world. KENZZI can help.
IPL can treat a slew of skin concerns, which means that there’s something for everyone. Even better, you can treat multiple ailments at one time, leading to easy skin rejuvenation. This means that you won’t have to do separate treatments on a variety of skin conditions; multiple can be treated by IPL at the same time.
In addition, KENZZI’s IPL Hair Removal Handset is very reasonably priced, especially in comparison to in-office IPL treatments. This product is unique because it allows you to experience all the benefits of an in-office experience without the expensive price tag, time spent in the waiting room, or rushing back and forth to dermatologist appointments. Instead, you can take ownership of your skin in the comfort of your own home.
In Conclusion
You only have one body, and it’s important to love your skin and take care of it. IPL, which is different from laser therapy, can help you do that. IPL is unique because of the fact that it is able to penetrate down to the second layer of your skin without harming the first. You can get the results you crave without any of the damage.
In order to properly prepare for an IPL treatment, there are several things you must avoid. This will help ensure that the treatment will go smoothly and that you won’t experience any negative side effects.
The at-home IPL product can be used weekly when you’re first starting the product, but eventually, you will only have to use it to keep up with your results. It’s important to ensure that you’re following these guidelines and not overdoing it. In addition to this, IPL treatment isn’t suitable for all skin types, and if you’re pregnant or breastfeeding, you should hold off on IPL even though there’s no evidence that it would be harmful - simply as a precaution.
IPL is an impactful advancement in the beauty industry for a lot of reasons. It’s a cosmetic procedure that can truly make a tangible impact on how you view your skin. There’s no reason to hide your skin - take the first step to loving who you are today with KENZZI.
Sources:
What Is Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) Treatment? | Healthline
IPL Treatments- How many, how often, and why?? | Dr. Karen Horton
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