Intense pulsed light (IPL) (=BBL)

eSuper-bright flashes of light, lasting only a few milliseconds, and of tailored and specific wavelengths, can bring about amazing effects in clearing freckles, reducing other sources of pigmentation, reducing the redness of rosacea, closing "broken capillaries" and (of course) stimulating new collagen.

Imagine you're at the beach. Time to cross the road and buy an ice-cream. You're barefooted. Like Mum says, you cross at the pedestrian crossing ... the "zebra" crossing ...

And you soon learn: the black stripes burn your feet! But you can step on the white stripes comfortably.

This is the principle behind "selective photothermolysis". If we flash on the skin light of the right wavelength, and the right intensity, for the right duration, we can heat the cells of a target structure while not harming surrounding cells and structures.

And by the way, "intense pulsed light" "IPL" are registered terms to a particular American laser company. Therefore, one of their competitors had to invent the alternative phrase "broad-based light" "BBL" but they mean the same thing.

Dark freckles on light-coloured skin are a delight to treat. They come off so easily! True freckles (aka "ephilides") are situated very superficially at the dermo-epidermal junction, so IPL light "gets" them very easily. They will often fall off with just one treatment (about a week later).

This requires careful assessment and consultation. Most other pigmented lesions are not as easy to treat as freckles. Some can sometimes be worsened by IPL! 

Actual moles, melasma, pigmented seborrhoea keratoses are very unlikely to respond positively, and of course pigmented skin cancers should not be treated at all with IPL.

IPL is great for solar dyschromia. Solar dyschromia is the mottled mosaic of dark and light spots that pale-skinned people often get after decades of excess sun exposure. Once actual skin cancers have been excluded, IPL is a great way to tidy up skin like that.

IPL is great for the expanse of generally red skin we see in cases of red rosacea, or erythematotelangiectatic rosacea. Several treatments are generally needed, and the goal is improvement and control rather than total elimination.

Laser hair removal is how I got into cosmetic medicine in the first place, while running what was "Newtown Medical Centre". So we have a lot of experience with this. IPL is generally much faster and less expensive than formal laser treatments, and we find just as effective.

IPL can improve so many aspects of ageing sun-damaged skin that "rejuvenation" becomes a reasonable description. Certainly that's the view of one of the world's founders of IPL: Californian pioneering dermatologist Dr Patrick Bitter.

I've met Patrick Bitter. He's at least ten years older than myself but looks ten years younger. He has had an IPL treatment every month for around 25 years.