IPL disaster: buyer beware

Intense Pulsed Light therapy has hit the news in the UK this month – and not in a good way.  A leading UK daily newspaper carried the story of an attractive young woman called Charlotte Cripps who decided to have IPL skin treatment.

IPL or Intense Pulsed Light is a form of laser treatment for skin rejuvenation. This is a photo of Charlotte Cripps immediately before her IPL session in London.

Although only 37 – Charlotte felt she wanted to look younger. She had seen her friends skin rejuvenated after IPL skin treatments and she wanted the same.

Unfortunately Charlotte chose to go to a skin clinic for her IPL treatment – rather than to a dermatologist or plastic surgeon – and her IPL experience turned into an IPL disaster.

Charlotte’s story is pretty well a perfect example of how not to arrange an anti aging procedure. She did no research – nor did she make any enquiries about the technician’s previous experience of IPL or even of laser technology.

Charlotte didn’t ask for a patch test and the ‘technician’ didn’t offer one. She signed a consent form and then let the ‘technician’ do her worst with the IPL machine.

This is a photo of Charlotte after the IPL treatment. The results are really almost impossible to believe and quite horrendous to look at.

Charlotte was due to have a course of 6 IPL sessions for which she was happy to pay around $2600. Not surprisingly she cancelled her remaining sessions and took herself off to a Harley Street dermatologist for remedial treatment – at a much bigger cost than the original estimate.

The Harley Street specialist – a big name in cosmetic dermatology in the UK – gave Charlotte the expert care she should have had in the first place. Whether Charlotte had done permanent damage to her skin – the dermatologist was unable to say. Looking at her injuries I’d be willing to bet she has – and all in the name of looking younger.

This story has lessons for us all. The comments online in relation to this story show that Charlotte’s experience with IPL is not unique. There are many people reporting almost exactly the same – pain and rectangular branding-like burns from over heated IPL machines.

Using Intense Pulsed Light lasers to zap the skin is a potentially dangerous treatment in the wrong hands and the wrong hands are inexperienced or untrained hands.

So – buyer beware. Regulation and FDA approval won’t save you from a bad experience. Even if the procedure is FDA approved – there is no guarantee that the clinic, medispa or treatment center you visit has experienced and trained personnel.

You must ask questions and not sign anything until you get satisfactory answers. Before you let anyone lose on your skin with a machine that could scar you – find out what experience they have and get the names of people who have had the same treatment. That goes for dermatologists and plastic surgeons too – qualifications don’t always equal competence.

IPL has been very successful in treating problems like rosacea, acne and spider veins. Many women have had excellent results with IPL for skin rejuvenation. But in the end it’s down to you to make sure your IPL experience isn’t an IPL disaster.