IPL Photofacial Review

I recently finished a package of 4 IPL Photofacial treatments and wanted to let you know what I thought of them. IPL is not a laser, but a light therapy that targets red and brown in your skin. It promises to remove age spots, broken capillaries, redness, and rosacea. It also claims to reduce pore size and increase collagen production.

Cost:

Each session usually runs around $250, so it would be $1,000 for four treatments. I bought a package where you buy 3 and the 4th is free, plus they also had a 20% off coupon for buying the package, so I paid $600 for the 4 treatments.

Treatment & Recovery:

Each treatment takes about an hour. Cooling gel is applied to the skin in one area. That area is treated with a zap of hot light with a handheld device 3 times, then they move on to another area. It feels like a rubber band being snapped on your skin, and some areas are more sensitive than others. When finished, the skin is quite red and irritated and feels like a mild sunburn. The redness goes away in about an hour. Dark spots that were affected will darken over the next few days and slough off over the next two weeks. There is no down time.

Each treatment is progressively more painful because the machine is put on a higher setting. Ask for the numbing gel if it becomes too painful. You will also see progressively fewer and fewer dark spots with each treatment.

Photo taken 30 minutes after treatment: 

Before & After Pictures:

Overall Assessment:

Pros: Reduced visibility of some age spots, reduced some redness on chin and forehead. No down time.

Cons: Didn’t completely remove age spots, didn’t remove broken capillaries, didn’t decrease pore size, not sure about collagen production. Caused new hyper-pigmentation on cheeks. Fairly painful. Expensive.

Watch the full review on Youtube:

IPL Photofacial Review