To bring you pioneering laser medical treatment in The Woodlands, Woodlands Aesthetic Center offers you the services of the xeo by Cutera, a customizable workstation that offers a huge variety of laser-based skin care treatments. Cutera is the world’s foremost provider of cosmetic laser treatments that enable you to achieve healthy, youthful skin by repairing damage and affecting stunning skin rejuvenation. Cutera manufactures the xeo workstation as a flexible platform that hosts Cutera’s array of laser modules.
What is Intense Pulsed Light?
Many of the Cutera xeo’s laser modules use IPL to effect their treatments. IPL, which stands for Intense Pulsed Light, is a method of light treatment that performs aesthetic and therapeutic procedures to alleviate many types of skin problems. Intense Pulsed Light can assist in the treatment of excess hair, irregular pigmentation, sun and age spots, facial veins (telangiectasia), acne, and more.
IPL Vs. Laser Treatment
IPL and lasers both use intense, focused light in their treatments. The key difference, though, is that lasers use only a single wavelength of light, meaning that they can only treat a single condition. IPL uses a broad spectrum of light that is controlled using a series of filters to achieve the desired wavelengths. IPL devices are highly customizable, and can be adjusted to treat any specific condition or even several conditions simultaneously.
How does IPL work?
Intense Pulsed Light specifically targets chromophores, the portion of a molecule that gives it a color. The two chromophores most relevant to skin treatment are melanin, the protein that determines skin color, and hemoglobin, the primary component of blood. Melanin and hemoglobin are heated by the IPL module, which is specifically adjusted to target a certain pigment, which causes them to disintegrate and be absorbed by the body. For example, IPL destroys the melanin in sun and age spots, allowing your skin’s natural pigment to reassert itself. For facial veins, IPL targets the hemoglobin in the blood vessels, causing the vein to coagulate and disappear. Hair removal devices also use IPL, targeting the melanin in unwanted hair follicles to prevent regrowth.
Since IPL involves intense, bright flashes of light, you will be provided with appropriate eye protection during your treatment. IPL also causes your skin to heat, and we take cooling measures that are optimized for your comfort. The first use of IPL was approved by the FDA in 1995, and with over twenty years of clinical use, IPL has proved its effectiveness as a safe, powerful technology.
Call Woodlands Aesthetic Center and take advantage of our many IPL-based treatments. We will be happy to share more details and guide you toward specific treatments.