Treating nasal thread veins with an IPL

IPL devices output a broad range of wavelengths which can be used to treat hair, blood vessels and pigmentation. We know that blood absorbs yellow light very strongly – typically in the region 500 to 600 nm (or thereabouts!) I trained some ladies (in ‘Mona Permanent Cosmetics’), recently, to use their IPL for telangiectasias (thread… Continue reading Treating nasal thread veins with an IPL

How Many Laser/IPL Hair Removal Sessions do I need to get a Good Result?

I’m often asked ‘how many hair removal sessions will I need using laser or IPL?’ This is not an easy question to answer because it depends on a high number of variables including your equipment, your training and, of course, your patient/client. But, I have tried to answer this question using a computer model of… Continue reading How Many Laser/IPL Hair Removal Sessions do I need to get a Good Result?

MasterClass – Birmingham – Sept 2022 – Details

The 1st DermaLase MasterClass wil be held in September this year in Birmingham. The detals of this event can be downloaded in a pdf format from here. Here is an outline of the topics which will be discussed – if you have a particular topic which you wish to be addressed, please let us know.… Continue reading MasterClass – Birmingham – Sept 2022 – Details

“Pain free” hair removal. Is it real?

We often hear, these days, about “pain free” hair removal, with various lasers, usually diodes. But, is it true? Well, let’s look at this more closely… The aim with laser, or IPL, treatment of hair is to induce enough heat in the stem cells that stimulate hair growth in the follicles. To do this, we… Continue reading “Pain free” hair removal. Is it real?

Selective Photothermolysis – an in-depth explanation

Back in 2016 (I think) I gave a talk to the American Society of Lasers Surgery and Medicine about the theory of Selective Photothermolysis. This is the theory which underpins all of today’s photothermal laser/IPL treatments. In this talk I discuss the idea behind thermal relaxation time and how it ‘fits’ with treatments. In fact,… Continue reading Selective Photothermolysis – an in-depth explanation

Laser/IPL Hair Removal – How many follicles do we kill each treatment?

All hair follicles grow according to a cycle – ‘anagen, catagen, telogen’. The follicle germative cells promote anagen hair growth at consistently regular intervals resulting in periods of active growth, followed by inactivity. The duration of these periods depends on the which part of the body is being considered. I created a computer model to… Continue reading Laser/IPL Hair Removal – How many follicles do we kill each treatment?

More on the ‘best’ intervals between laser/IPL hair removal sessions…

Choosing the ‘best’ time between laser/IPL hair removal sessions is not simple. It depends on the hair growth cycles of the hairs we are targeting, which is not the same across the body. That means that we need to consider the body area when deciding how long to leave between sessions. We can only target… Continue reading More on the ‘best’ intervals between laser/IPL hair removal sessions…

What is the ‘best’ interval between hair removal sessions (after treatment by lasers or IPLs)? Part 2.

I wrote a blog post back in September 2021 discussing my thoughts on the how to determine the optimum interval between laser/IPL hair sessions. It proved very popular amongst my readers. But, as soon as I posted it I began to doubt my own conclusions. Back then I suggested that we should wait for an… Continue reading What is the ‘best’ interval between hair removal sessions (after treatment by lasers or IPLs)? Part 2.

How strongly are different laser wavelengths absorbed in melanin and blood?

These days we use a wide variety of lasers and IPLs to treat various targets in the skin. Two major targets are hair and blood vessels. But how much of the laser/IPL light is actually absorbed by these targets? Using data from two very clever scientists (Steve Jacques and Scott Prahl) it is relatively easy… Continue reading How strongly are different laser wavelengths absorbed in melanin and blood?

The ‘best’ way to cool the skin during laser/IPL treatments

Many laser and IPL treatments require a significant temperature rise in the target cells, to effectively kill them. We use light energy to induce this temperature rise. But, calculations show that, in some cases, less than 1% of the light energy is actually doing the job we want. That means that more than 99% of… Continue reading The ‘best’ way to cool the skin during laser/IPL treatments