Photorejuvenation]
I. What is photorejuvenation?
Photorejuvenation is a new non-invasive optical medical aesthetic technology, professionally known as “Intense Pulsed Light (IPL)”, which is a broad spectrum light (wavelength 500~1200nm) generated by a specific light source, and is also called “intense light” because of its particularly high brightness. “, because its spectral range covers the spectrum of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, indigo, violet, also known as “color light”. What we often call “photons”, “light quanta”, “intense light” and “colored light” are all medical terms for intense Pulsed light.
The intensity pulsed light treatment instrument can select the wavelength through the filter, so it can selectively remove pigment spots, acne marks, red blood, hair removal and wrinkle removal. When intense pulsed light treats skin changes such as wrinkles, pigmentation and capillary dilation caused by photoaging, it is called photorejuvenation.
II. What is the principle of intense pulsed light?
1.After the specific spectrum of intense pulsed light acts on the skin, it is preferentially and selectively absorbed by the melanin in the tissue and the hemoglobin in the blood vessels, so that the dilated blood vessels, melanin particles and melanocytes are destroyed and decomposed without damaging the normal tissue, thus achieving the effect of treating capillary dilation and pigment spots.
2.After irradiating the deep skin tissue, the photo-thermal effect produced by intense pulsed light will lead to mild reversible damage, thus initiating the repair mechanism of the skin tissue, causing the deep collagen fibers and elastic fibers to rearrange and restore elasticity, and finally relieving the facial skin wrinkles. It also has a certain effect of reducing enlarged pores, clinically achieving the purpose of skin rejuvenation.
The number of pulses, pulse width, pulse energy density and pulse delay of the pulsed light emitted by the intense pulsed light therapy instrument can be adjusted, and the parameters can be selected according to individual differences in the treatment. At the same time, the treatment instrument has a simultaneous cooling function, thus ensuring that normal tissues are only stimulated but not damaged, and patients only have mild discomfort during treatment, and there are generally no complications. The output wavelength of IPL is wide, so it has a wide range of indications, selective treatment effect and less adverse reactions, large treatment area and rapid treatment.
Third, who are suitable for IPL treatment?
In general, the following four types of people are more suitable for IPL treatment.
The first group of people: the face is dotted with pigment spots, whether sunlight or freckles, usually these spots give you a feeling of “dirty face”, although often used to cover up powder, but always can not cover up. These people are more suitable for photorejuvenation treatment.
The second group of people: the face is starting to appear sagging, fine wrinkles and age-related skin changes. This group of people is also more suitable for photorejuvenation treatment.
The third group of people: people who want to change the texture of their skin, want to have better skin elasticity, smoother skin, and improve skin dullness.
The fourth group of people: facial skin roughness, enlarged pores, acne marks, and facial capillary dilation. This group of people can choose photorejuvenation treatment.
Usually, the first three groups of people have more obvious treatment effects, while the fourth group has relatively poorer treatment effects. In addition, like other cosmetic treatments, the better your skin condition is, the better the treatment effect will be. If your skin condition is not ideal, photorejuvenation treatment will have a good performance, but in general, it will be worse.
The most important thing is that you should be careful with the treatment.
The types of people who are unsuitable for IPL treatment are probably the following categories.
1, photosensitive people and patients with recent application of photosensitive drugs, such people are sensitive to light and prone to skin damage after treatment.
2, pregnant women, because the treatment has varying degrees of pain, theoretically can not completely rule out the potential impact on fetal development may exist.
3.Systematic use of retinoic acid (at least 2 months after cessation of use before treatment), such patients may have a potential temporary weakening of skin repair function.
4.The treatment of melasma patients should be cautious, in most cases, the effect of treatment on melasma is not obvious.
5.People with darker skin tone and prone to pigmentation should be cautious when using it.
6.Patients who have unrealistic expectations of the treatment effect. Although photorejuvenation has outstanding cosmetic ability, she is only a very common medical item, do not render and deify it, there is no ability to change the nature of your skin, do not hold unrealistic expectations.
V. What is the process of intense pulsed light treatment? Does it hurt?
The treatment process of IPL takes about 20 minutes each time. First, a cooling coupling agent is applied to the washed treatment area (to reduce discomfort. The doctor will set the treatment parameters according to the patient’s specific situation, adjust the treatment parameters according to the response, and then continue the treatment until the end. There will be slight pain during the treatment, which most patients can tolerate, and anesthesia is generally not required. After the treatment, a cold compress should be applied for about 20 minutes, and the cold compress time should be extended for those who have heavy reactions. After the treatment is completed, some people will have a slight burning sensation, which can generally be relieved within half a day.
Sixth, the treatment before the need to do those preparations?
The treatment area is free of inflammation; pay attention to sun protection before treatment, no history of sun or artificial sunburn within a month; avoid taking aspirin and retinoic acid drugs within a week before receiving treatment; be diagnosed by a professional doctor to receive photorejuvenation treatment, and then routinely wash your face and take photos before treatment can be carried out.
Seven, how to apply cold gel during photorejuvenation treatment?
Before photorejuvenation treatment, apply cold (6~10°C) IPL coupling gel on the treatment area, usually 1~2mm thick, 3mm thick for patients with darker skin color. The use of gel over a large area will increase the temperature of the gel due to the heat transfer from the skin, and it is best to divide the entire treatment area into small pieces (each piece is 5cm x 6cm maximum). After applying the colloid, the treatment should be started immediately.
Eight, what is the interval of intense pulse light treatment? How many times is a course of treatment?
In order to achieve better treatment effect and consolidate the efficacy, generally 3-5 times is a course of treatment, and the interval between each treatment is 3-4 weeks.
9. What is the purpose of applying cold gel?
1.Guiding light. If the gel is not used, the contact between the light head and the skin will not be very close, and a certain amount of bubbles will be produced, which obviously affects the light conduction.
2.Cooling. Cold gel applied to the treatment area can make the epidermis avoid heat damage.
3, easy to operate. Facilitate the smooth movement of the treatment head, but also increase the patient’s comfort.
Cold gel is generally not reused to avoid affecting the light transmission. It is recommended that after applying a layer of gel on the skin during treatment, the light head naturally touches the skin, neither intentionally lift the light head, nor press down the light head, so that the light head and the skin maintain a natural contact state.
Ten, strong pulse light treatment after what issues should be noted?
After IPL treatment does not affect normal life, no special skin care is needed, but sun protection and moisturizing should be strengthened. Under the guidance of doctors, use medical skin care products, including stopping the use of all functional cosmetics (various spot creams, wrinkle creams, etc.), prohibiting the use of various chemical peeling treatments (also known as peeling treatment), prohibiting skin grinding and the use of scrub cleansers, etc.
XI. Are there any side effects after intense pulsed light treatment?
There are no irreversible side effects after phototherapy and it is very safe. The doctor will choose the targeted treatment parameters, including energy density, pulse mode (single pulse, double pulse, triple pulse, etc.), pulse width, pulse delay, and the choice of filters with different cut-off bands to achieve the best treatment effect and The treatment is carried out with minimum risk. However, as with any treatment method, the treatment itself has two sides, the performance of the instrument, the skill level of the operator and the individual skin differences, there are a few patients may produce heavy skin reactions, relatively transient crusting, purpura, hyperpigmentation or hypopigmentation, etc., but their incidence is low. For people concerned about whether it will make the skin thinning and sensitive this problem, in theory does not exist.
Twelve, intense pulse light treatment will stop a period of time, the skin will not accelerate aging?
This is an issue of great concern to everyone. Theoretically speaking, photoaging is the natural aging of the human organism and the accumulation of light exposure over time, which makes the skin aging, and this effect of sunlight actually starts to accumulate from childhood. Caucasians usually have more visible wrinkles than Asians, probably because their skin is less resistant to light. After a photorejuvenation treatment, the structure of the skin changes, as shown by the recovery of collagen and especially elastic fibers in the skin. As long as the protection is enhanced in the days after the treatment, the skin will not accelerate aging.
XIII. What is photoaging?
After puberty, many problems begin to appear on the face, such as: pigmentation abnormalities (age spots, solar tans, etc.), skin laxity, fine wrinkles, facial redness, enlarged pores, dull skin, etc. The combined result is gradual aging of the skin. Unlike the general skin relaxation, appearance of small fine lines, skin dryness, thinning, loss of elasticity and other changes exhibited by natural aging of the human body, this aging that occurs in exposed parts of the skin (especially the face and arms) is called photoaging, i.e., light induces premature aging changes in the skin. Photoaging first shows pigmentation abnormalities, for example, the face starts to show some dotted or irregular, brown pigmentation spots, similar to freckles, which we call heliotrope. In some people, these pigmented spots will fuse into larger brown spots. Some people also develop age spots and hypopigmentation changes, and their skin will gradually sag and form wrinkles. Some people also have fine capillary dilation on the face, and the skin still becomes rough, with coarse pores and even orange peel-like appearance, etc. Finally, the skin gradually ages and loses its luster.