What is Intensed Pulsed Light (IPL) Hair Removal

I IPL stands for Intense Pulsed Light. This technology is the one that is used at the Athenaeum Spa in Malta as it has been deemed the best to use. IPL treatments are often referred to as photo rejuvenation, Photofacial or IPL Photofacial due to its use of "selective photothermolysis" during treatment. Photothermolysis is the process by which IPL lasers convert light energy to heat energy and treat unwanted hair and skin pigments. Skin rejuveation is available at the Athenaeum Spa in Malta. IPL lasers can use photothermolysis to remove unwanted hair, or to correct skin hyperpigmentation, rosacea, age spots and the appearance of sun damage.

IPL is not the same as laser, although it is similar. The main difference is that laser (Light Amplification by the Stimulated Emission of Radiation) is a technique of producing light energy of only one wavelength. IPL (Intense Pulsed Light) uses white light which contains all the wavelengths of visible light from red to blue. However, to concentrate the treatments on different structures, filters are used to reduce certain wavelengths that are not needed.
The technology is aimed at producing light of high intensity during a very short period of time. It involves specific lamps together with capacitors whose rapid discharge provides the high energy required. It is a method of hair removal from the body most commonly employed by medical practitioners and estheticians. Our operator at the Atheaneum Spa in Malta is a fully trained esthetician and has undergone intensive trianing. It involves the use of a specially constructed xenon flash lamp and focusing optics.

IPL systems are different from lasers in that they can deliver hundreds of wavelengths (or colours) in each burst of light. Certain filters are used that target these flashes of light so that they can work in as precise a way as lasers. Simply, the burst of light to the hair causes damage to the follicle in the same way as a laser.

Scientific studies in the early 1990s proved that lasers were an effective method of removing unwanted hair, and the first machine approved for laser hair removal in America was in 1996. Since then, many different types of Laser and Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) machines or Light Heat Energy (LHE) devices have been developed and improved to remove hair in all areas of the body. No manufacturer has been given permission to claim that they can cause "permanent hair removal", as this has not yet been proven. However, they are allowed to claim "permanent hair reduction", as that means that whilst hair may not be removed entirely and forever, it will certainly be removed to a significant degree.

Cheaper and faster than laser hair removal, the IPL removal procedure has become very popular. Although the precise effectiveness of IPL compared to laser epilation is debated by scientists, equipment manufacturers and practitioners, their results are generally accepted to be roughly equivalent. The results obtained at the Athenaeum Spa in Malta are similar to the ones abtained by laser systems.